Primary Fears
by PyreFly77
Summary: The nights have not been kind to the Paw Patrol. A plague of horrific nightmares has ruined the past few night's sleeps for Chase and Rocky. And when Chase finds Marshall utterly broken in the aftermath of the worst one yet, it's down to the rest of the team to help him back to his old self.
1. The Long Night Ahead

_**UPDATE 22/03/2019: A cover image has recently been added to this fic, made as a gift by Zojak. Once more, I can't thank you enough for taking time out to make this for me. I really love how it turned out. Anyway, on with the show.**_

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"Ah! ...ugh, not again..."

Chase hadn't been sleeping at all well the past couple of nights. Ever since he had that stupid dream of him being unable to save Ryder from dying in action and his funeral being held, he'd been sleeping far more lightly. Even though it came about a week ago, he was still suffering aftershocks in the form of continued night terrors. Different variations and continuations on the same dream. The other pups noted that he'd never looked more vulnerable before or since the nightmare. He'd been praying that he wouldn't be woken up by every little jolt or take an age to fall asleep for about a week now, but this had regrettably not come to pass. He rested his head on his paws and stared into space.

"When will these thoughts go away? The others can't see me waking up from every bump in the night..." he thought.

The images from the nightmare flashed through his head again. Him completely failing to help Ryder before the branch he clung to gave way completely. His friends howling and wailing in utter despair when receiving the news. His owner laying in a coffin. Mayor Goodway's speech to the city. It all seemed so real. Chase cringed. Despite everything, he'd already had the misfortune of the others seeing their second-in-command break down crying like a helpless puppy. When Chase didn't join them at breakfast, they all grew suspicious and looked for him, only to find him sobbing in his house. They tried to help by fetching Ryder to come check on him, but they only made it worse as Chase's emotional defenses crumbled at the sight of his owner, and he leapt into his arms, crying harder than ever. Truly a haunting sight the pups wouldn't be forgetting any time soon.

He was in no hurry for them to see him anywhere close to that state again. Chase ceased cringing at the memories of the awful dream and the breakdown that followed and sighed heavily. Realising he wouldn't get back to sleep any time soon, he got up, stretched himself out, and went for a walk around the bays.

The first thing he noticed was Marshall. Or rather, the lack of Marshall. The thought of him having gone to the bathroom was swiftly eradicated when Chase looked over to see their usual bushes devoid of any presence at all.

"That's weird. Is he OK?" Chase thought.

Since Ryder was nowhere to be found, and the rest of the pups remained sound asleep, he decided to look for him, with the thought that it was probably nothing at the front of his mind. But at the back, the uncomfortable thought of something bad happening took root.

Doing his best not to disturb anyone, the door to the Lookout slowly slid open into total darkness. He looked left. Nothing. He looked right. Nothing. Inky blackness was all that surrounded him. As the door slid closed behind him, a strange sound greeted his ears. It didn't sound like an intruder, nor did it sound like any footsteps. It sounded like a voice. In fact, it sounded like...

"...crying?" Chase thought to himself.

Sniffles and sobs filled the air in the darkness, and as Chase tuned his hearing to track its location, the voice sounded familiar. He looked for the light switch on the floor near the TV, and as he found it and turned it on, the room illuminated with the white glow of a nearby standing lamp cutting through the darkness, and revealing something Chase was not expecting in the slightest.

"Marshall?"

If he hadn't just been woken up, Chase would swear that he was still dreaming. He shook his head around to see if he was just tired. But no, what he saw before him was very much real, much to his shock. Marshall, his eternally-cheerful baby brother. Marshall, the silly, kindhearted klutz. Collapsed in the corner sobbing his eyes out. As he heard his name, Marshall stared up at Chase, with red eyes and a coat stained with tears. Chase's heart dropped into his stomach.

"Marshall, what's wrong?" he asked, more concerned than he had been in a long time.

As Chase drew near, however, Marshall flinched away into the corner. It took a lot to upset Chase, but seeing his lifelong friend flinch away from him as if he was about to tear him to pieces, staring at him with a face of tearful fright felt like a knife to the heart.

"Marshall, did something happen?" Chase asked again, attempting to shrug off what just happened.

"...d-d... please don't hurt me..." Marshall sobbed.

Chase froze. What did he just say? "Hurt?! Wha- why- wh-what are you talking about?!" Chase started to wonder if this was an imposter lying before him.

"Marshall, why in the heck would I hurt you?" He moved in closer and laid down beside him. He wasn't taking 'no' for an answer. "Did something happen to you? Are you injured?"

Chase made sure that Marshall wouldn't pull away so easily by wrapping his arms around him. He'd never seen Marshall so distressed and upset before. Unless he was flying or had to get a shot, barely anything could drag him down. He'd started to worry if someone else had somehow caused this. After a long pause and feeble attempt by Marshall to pull away, he finally choked out some more words.

"...Chase... you... you and... the others... d-do... do you... h-h-hate... me?" Those last two words were less spoken and more squeaked. Chase grew even more confused and alarmed.

"Hate you?! Wh-what in the world would make you think that?!" Chase asked, his voice raising in pitch and volume.

"...I... had a... a-a... nightmare..." Marshall continued through his tears.

Chase sighed. "Another nightmare? Ugh, we just had me and Rocky, now Marshall, too? Is there something in our food?" he thought. Chase was still reeling from the effects of his nightmare, but it wasn't long after that that they had another case of bad dreams.

Rocky, too, had suffered a seriously nasty dream a couple of nights prior. Almost prophetically, it was about Marshall. But this one was different. Rather than dying in action, he saw Marshall turned against them. More specifically, Marshall suffered an accident which destroyed his memory, leaving him amnesiac, and a ripe target for Humdinger to kidnap and brainwash, feeding him lies about the Paw Patrol and turning Marshall to hating the rest of them. Rocky only mentioned that Humdinger took over the city with Marshall's help and illegalised the Paw Patrol, disbanding and scattering them for good.

Poor Rocky was a mess for the rest of the day after that. Ryder and Marshall both sat with him for hours, telling him that Humdinger wasn't THAT smart or evil, and even if he was and that came to pass, he wouldn't be able to enjoy his victory for very long. After so long together, no-one would take that sort of thing lying down, least of all Ryder. Despite this, Rocky still hesitated to leave Marshall's side for the last couple of days. The healing from a nightmare like that was still a work in progress. So was Chase's, despite what he wanted everyone else to think. Despite Ryder's insistence that him being K.I.A was never going to happen, and that they were all too safety-conscious for that, Chase could never shake the feeling of mortality behind their work since then. Now it looked like there was going to be a third case of nightmarish trauma to add to the pile.

"...Ch-chase?" came the voice next to him. Like a dog-whistle being blown in his ear, Chase snapped back to reality. "Ah! S-sorry!" he hastily apologised. He cursed himself internally. His best friend was a sobbing wreck and he was spacing out?! Getting his mind back to the fear at hand, Chase went back to being ready to listen.

"What nightmare could you have had to get you like this? You can tell me." Chase whispered.

Those last four words were something that Marshall desperately needed to hear. With a sniffle, Marshall went on. "O...OK... I-I'll try..."

"Chase... I dreamed... that we had a fight... about something..."

Chase noted that it made sense that Marshall would dream about something like that. Since the incident of him leaving the Paw Patrol for a little while, Chase had wondered if his friend was more insecure than he was letting on.

"Do you remember what it was about?" Chase whispered.

"N-n... no..." Marshall sniffed. "B-b-but... it was... loud... and... ugly..." His crying started to get worse. How could this be causing him to act like this, though? "And... and... and... a-and..." Uh-oh. It looked this pot was about to boil over. But in this case, putting a lid on it would only make things worse.

"Everyone attacked me! You, Ryder, everyone! You all ran at me and beat me up!" Marshall sobbed loudly. Chase stared at him in shock.

"What?! That's... so awful! Why would we do that?!" Chase said in fright.

"I don't know! B-b-but I remember being bitten... kicked... stomped on... torn at... e-e-e-e-everything!"

Marshall was in very obvious pain. Chase hugged him tighter. It was one thing to dream about having Ryder die. It was another thing to dream about Marshall hating you while not even remembering who you are. But dreaming about having all of your friends turn on you and attack you? Chase shivered as the scenario played out in his head.

"All of you... I-I-I-I remember... Y-y-you... you all... yelled about... how I w-w-w-was... was-"

Marshall shook violently, clearly about to erupt again. Chase braced himself.

"USELESS! CLUMSY! ANNOYING! STUPID!" he screamed these words as loudly as he could, slamming his paw into the ground on each one. They were clearly tearing at his very soul.

Chase's jaw was hanging wide open. Simply thinking that comments they made about a cartoon villain were about him drove Marshall away. But hearing words like that from the ones who loved him? Chase couldn't even find the words to reply. "Then you all kicked me out of the Paw Patrol! You threw me into the street and just... left me to die!" Chase couldn't help but feel horrible. Obviously, it was a dream and they'd never do that in real life, but he still felt unbelievably guilty. He felt like he had a role to play, even though the incident was literally all in his friend's head. As Marshall heaved ugly, uneven sobs, Chase hugged him tighter still, rubbing his side for good measure.

"No-one deserves a dream like that." Chase thought. "Not even the likes of Humdinger and Sweetie."

He tried to calm the sobbing dalmatian to the best of his ability, but deep down, the feeling lingered that what he was doing wouldn't work.

Finally, Chase spoke up. "D-did... you wake up after that?"

"Y-y-y... Y-yeah... I-I-I... I did..."

"Marshall, you need to speak to Ryder... That kind of dream could be dangerous... for you to have... You saw what that kind of dream did to me and Rocky." Chase told him, tearing up a little himself.

"I... know... b-b-but... I-I..." Marshall sobbed. "I can't help... but think that... some of it... was true..."

Those words caused something to break inside of Chase. "Wh-?! Wha-?! Wh-wh-wh-?!" he stammered in response. Marshall's words caught him completely off-guard, striking him dumb.

"I'm clumsy! I fall off my ladder! I need to be rescued all the time!" Marshall yelled, before breaking down again. "Deep down... I kn-know... I-I'm... just... a useless klutz... y-you all... probably th-think... y-y-y... you'd... be... better... off without me-"

"NO!" Chase screamed, startling Marshall into looking right at him.

"That's insane! How long has the Paw Patrol been together now?! Do you really think we'd turn on you like that after one fight?! That we'd do... THAT?!"

By now, the volume of his voice was the last thing on Chase's mind, as was the fact that he too was breaking down in tears.

"We all have flaws and none of us care about them! We all love each other! Nobody minds rescuing anyone! We'd all be there for each other in a heartbeat! That includes you! How could you dream about something so awful?!"

He hadn't quite noticed, but Marshall was starting to break down further. Chase's yelling wasn't helping, but he was deeply hurt by the fact a lifelong friend could not only dream about him doing something like that to them, but believe that what he was told in said dream could be true.

As Chase ran out of steam, he finally noticed his own broken sobbing. He squeezed Marshall like he was about to fade away in his arms.

"...Marshall... don't you EVER think that might be even a little true... we're a family... right...? Just imagine... how the others would... feel..." Chase sobbed.

These words only served to deepen Marshall's wounds, reducing him to despondent wailing. As much as Chase was trying to help, for once his emotions had completely run away with him. A friend in despair like this wasn't something he was experienced with. Cats in trees he could handle. Tracking people down wasn't a problem. Helping Adventure Bay out of a jam was nothing to him. But a friend completely and utterly breaking apart was beyond even him. He may have been there for a crying Rocky, but since the others had already made efforts to cheer him up by that point, he was nowhere near the level that poor Marshall was at now.

"...Chase? ...Marshall?"

The sobbing of the two was suddenly broken by a voice. Having been woken up by the two's screaming and crying, Ryder stood to the side of the elevator brandishing a flashlight, eyes wide. In all his years leading the Paw Patrol, he'd never seen anything quite like this. One of his pups collapsed bawling on the floor in the corner of a dark room, barely able to look at him, with a wailing dalmatian clinging to him for dear life.

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 _ **Ugh... Jeez, have I been nervous in uploading this. Not only is this the very first piece of fiction I've ever dared to write and put into the public eye, but it's for a fandom that I'm actually kind of self-conscious about being a member of (I mean, let's face it, the fact that I've taken a liking to a show for preschoolers isn't exactly something you discuss at the dinner table). Everyone has to face their fears sometime, I guess.**_

 _ **At any rate, I suppose I should forewarn you that this is going to be a bit of a long one. I got a surprising amount of mileage out of writing this. Maybe because Marshall's my favorite character? Because I tend to ramble? Because I didn't think there were enough fluff fics about him and was determined to balance things out? Who knows.**_

 _ **I'd like to say "please go gentle" since this my first time, but obviously that's not a good attitude to take, is it? I suppose we'll see how this goes. There's a first time for everything after all. I intend to update this fic at a rate of one chapter a day, real life permitting. Yes, I wrote this all in advance. I'm not a fan of loose-ends and inconsistent schedules, after all. Anyway, I do hope that people enjoy this fic all the same. Hopefully you'll stick with it. Thanks for listening and goodnight.  
**_


	2. A Small Breather

While it was tough to lift both of them at once, Ryder had picked the two pups up in his arms and carried them back his own room. While he would normally joke about lifting the weight of the world, seeing their condition meant that this was obviously an extremely bad time. He carried them both into his room. It wasn't terribly special, but then, Ryder didn't need very much in order to be happy. His bed was large and spacious, though. All the better for sitting with a pair of hysterical, crying pups at 2:45AM.

Instead of asking what was wrong, he sat on the bed and embraced the pair of them as they bawled into his chest by the light of his bedside lamp. He was no stranger to seeing his pups cry, but not quite to this extreme. Even Ryder couldn't keep himself from sobbing a little. Throughout it all, Ryder had only one thought on his mind.

"What in the world got them like this?"

After about five minutes, Chase finally calmed down. Ryder asked him for an explanation of what happened, which Chase was all too happy to give. Marshall continued to cry as Chase recounted the gory details of what Marshall told him. Ryder listened with his eyes looking like they were going to fall out of his head. Hearing Marshall's dream was just as shocking for him, too. It was nearly unthinkable that such a silly, happy-go-lucky pup like him could think for a second that his loved ones would do something like that. Until tonight, that is.

Chase spared almost no detail, but still elected to keep quiet about Marshall's declaration of the team being better off without him. After Marshall had told him that Rocky explaining his nightmare had brought Ryder to tears, Chase thought that mentioning Marshall's thought of the Paw Patrol being better off without him would be a very poor idea.

And that's when I came down?" Ryder whispered, his hands cupping Chase's head.

"...yeah. I tried to tell him that that dream was totally wrong... I don't think it worked." Chase replied sadly.

"Well, that's because you yelled. I know that dream was stressful for you, too, but that was not how to handle it. You can't just yell at someone in distress and expect them to feel better."

Ryder's words carried a firmness to them, but he never stopped trying to soothe his distressed pup. Chase let out a whine. He tried to help, but only made things worse. Not a feeling he was used to, and not one he could've done with right now.

"But still." Ryder continued. "You brought him to me and heard him out. And you never left him once. That means more than you think."

That made Chase feel a little better. "...thank you, Ryder, sir..." he whispered as Ryder let him go. Their attention then turned back to the crying wreck of a dalmatian next to them.

"Oh, you poor pup..." Ryder whispered, wrapping his arms around Marshall, rubbing his back for good measure. By now, his pyjama shirt was thoroughly ruined. Not that he cared as he let Marshall cry all he could. Chase was quick to join in, embracing Marshall as tightly as possible.

After the longest ten minutes of their lives, Marshall's crying faded, replaced with sporadic gasping and hiccuping, with the odd sniff for good measure. Not breaking the hug, Ryder looked down at him.

"...better, Marshall?" he asked.

"...yeah... I-I... I guess..." Marshall replied shakily.

"I know it's easy to say 'it was just a dream'. But it was. There wasn't any truth to it at all." Ryder whispered.

"B-but I-!" Marshall stammered, before being cut off by Ryder's hug tightening.

"Shhhhh... Marshall, look at me." Reluctantly, Marshall craned his head upwards to meet his owner's gaze, Ryder's eyes filled with sympathy. He placed a hand under Marshall's chin.

"Marshall, how long has the Paw Patrol been around now?"

"Wh-what does that have to do with anything?"

"How long, now?"

"...err... I... I don't know..." Marshall's gaze started to turn away.

"Marshall, look at me." Ryder repeated, his voice a little more stern, moving Marshall's head to meet his gaze once more. "And how long have you known Chase? Rocky? Skye? Everyone?"

"...I... don't know..."

"There you go. We've all known you and your quirks for a really long time now. Just as you've known them. You can't honestly say we'd attack you like that over one fight."

Now that Marshall had calmed down a little, Ryder's comforting words were starting to have some effect. As Marshall spoke again, though, his voice wavered.

"...but this wasn't just 'one fight'... It was huge... loud... the worst fight ever... I... I DON'T WANT IT TO HAPPEN!"

The tone of Marshall's voice shifted rapidly as he buried himself in Ryder's chest again. Just thinking about the nightmare was painful. Chase flinched back a little from the sudden jump in volume.

"Hey, hey... it won't, OK? Not even close." came Ryder's reply. Thankfully, Ryder was better prepared to deal with his pups suffering awful night terrors.

"It's not like we haven't fought before. We get snippy with each other, we turn our backs, we huff and puff. But if there's one thing no-one would ever do, it's attack each other. We would NEVER go that far. Not ever."

Marshall blinked. "...w-what makes you... s-so sure?" he whimpered.

"Marshall... we're a family, aren't we? We've known each other for so long now, that the thought of getting violent with each other is something that none of us can even think of. You saw how me and Chase reacted when you told us, right? I bet you the other pups will think the same thing." Ryder whispered.

Marshall actually hadn't thought about that. He thought back to his recent interactions with the other pups. Working with Rubble to help a beached whale. His game of Pup Pup Boogie with Zuma ending with them laughing in a heap. Racing Skye through Adventure Bay. But more importantly, comforting Rocky over his own nightmare.

"All the good times we shared... If they hated me... would they not have happened?" Marshall thought to himself.

As these thoughts ran through his head, the room fell quiet. The silence was occasionally cut through by Marshall whimpering and sniffling as he recalled the nightmare that lead him here. Chase and Ryder just sat there, nuzzling and stroking their friend. Right now, Marshall wasn't the exuberant klutz he usually was. All he was was a terrified little kid in desperate need of a hug.

More time passed, and Marshall finally spoke up. His voice had been reduced to a strained whisper from all of the crying. The nightmare still weighed on his mind, but he was in a better state than before.

"...thank you, Ryder sir. I... I feel a little better now."

A wave of relief washed over Chase and Ryder. After such a stressful night, their persistence had paid off, if only a little.

"That's the spirit, Marshall. Good pup." Ryder whispered back, scratching behind Marshall's ears.

"Oh, what a relief..." Chase finally spoke up, having kept his mouth firmly shut the past few minutes. As much as he wanted to praise Marshall for starting to recover, he thought that mentioning that dream right now would be a terrible idea.

For the past couple of hours, the pair had been running on adrenaline. When Marshall finally showed signs of calming down, the crash happened hard and fast. Chase collapsed onto Ryder's bed like a boulder and Ryder slumped forwards.

"Geez, Marshall. I thought if I talked to you, I'd be able to sleep better. You didn't have to go that far!" Chase teased playfully.

Marshall laughed in response, if a little flatly. "Hey, glad I could help..." he replied with a great deal of fatigue of his own.

"At least you're lucky enough to go back to sleep..." Upon hearing this, Ryder sat up again.

"Marshall, I can't let you go back to your house tonight. You've had too much of a night." Ryder said exhaustedly.

"Huh? But where will I sleep?" Marshall asked.

"Silly pup. You're going to stay with me tonight. I don't want you having any more night terrors." Ryder replied.

It wouldn't be the first time he'd done this, having done it for Chase and Rocky previously. He just wasn't expecting it to happen again so soon.

"But not before I change my shirt!" he continued, grinning at Marshall. "Just look at this mess!"

Ryder gestured to his tear-soaked pyjama shirt. Chase and Marshall giggled. After that fiasco, a little levity was most welcome to the three, even if for one of them, the levity was brief.

It didn't take long for Ryder to change into a fresh shirt. As Ryder sat back down, Chase piped up again.

"Er, Ryder sir? I was wondering... er..."

Chase felt a little awkward in asking, but he wanted to stay with Ryder that night as well. He felt that Marshall needed him. Much though he made things worse earlier that night, he couldn't leave his friend behind at a time like this.

"Go on, don't be shy, Chase. What's wrong?"

"Well... Could I stay with you tonight, too? I don't want to just walk out on Marshall tonight." Marshall stared at him, astonished.

"You really mean that?"

"Duh! I can't just leave you! After all, I was part of this mess, too, right?"

"Of course, Chase!" Ryder replied. "I was going to say that you needed to stay here tonight, too. And not just because of Marshall's nightmare."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Come on, Chase. I can see that you're still shaken up over your own nightmare. You've been looking antsy all week, and don't think I haven't noticed you pacing around the Lookout at night, either."

Chase's ears flattened against his head. "Oh... I'm sorry..." he said, face burning with shame at having been found out.

"Save your sorries, Chase. There are more important things to deal with right now" Ryder replied.

"Now, Marshall. Before we go to sleep, is there anything you need?" he continued.

"Well... I guess... my... teddy-" Marshall whispered.

"Oh yeah, say no more." Chase interrupted. "I'll go get it."

Chase hopped off of Ryder's bed and headed for the door.

"Chase, wait." Ryder called after him.

He froze. Did he just mess up again?

"I think the other pups heard you earlier." Chase's heart missed a beat. Oh no. So not only did his moment of weakness make Marshall feel even worse, now the others heard their second-in-command break down crying again? "I caught a glimpse of them around the corner earlier. They all looked really worried. I don't think they've slept the whole time we've been up here. They'll probably want to know what happened." Ryder continued.

"Aww, crud. I didn't mean to scare them too!" Chase replied with a whine.

"It's OK, Chase. They'd find out eventually. You can tell them. That is, if Marshall thinks it's OK?" Ryder said, looking to Marshall.

Marshall took a while to respond. His head was still swimming with thoughts of his nightmare and what the others thought of him. Without meeting his gaze, Marshall replied.

"OK..." he whispered.

Ryder sighed. Something told him that with a nightmare of this magnitude, Marshall was going to need a lot of care to get him back to his old self. "Right. I'll be back in a flash, guys." Chase said, before walking out the door.

As Chase descended the elevator, he felt apprehensive. Worried, even. How were the others going to feel? They were worried sick when he and Rocky suffered their own nightmares, so how were they going to react to him and Marshall screaming and wailing? Maybe he ought to brace for them telling him what an idiot he was for yelling. But then, he'd probably deserve that. Hey, maybe they'd even be asleep. He could just slip past them unnoticed. Chase held on to that thought as he exited the Lookout.

He only managed to take a few steps before hearing his name called from the side. Turning to the source of the noise, he saw Skye looking more worried than he'd ever seen her, and behind her were Rubble, Rocky and Zuma, with similar expressions. Chase sighed heavily. "So much for getting by unnoticed." he thought.


	3. The Bearer of Bad News

The ensuing barrage of questions the pups threw consisted of nothing Chase wasn't expecting. "What happened?" "Are you OK?" "Where's Marshall?" and several others along the same lines. Eventually things quietened down a little, allowing Chase to get a word in edgeways.

"Guys, it's fine. We... er... were just having a little heart-to-heart." Chase said, trying to downplay things as much as he can.

"...really? Is that what that was?" Skye replied with an unimpressed look that could curdle milk.

"That was a pwetty loud heart-to-heart..." Zuma added.

"What about all the crying we heard? And what made you start yelling like that?" Rubble asked.

Chase' eyes panned over to Rocky. He looked the most haunted and worried out of all them. It didn't take much to figure out that Rocky had caught on to what caused the sudden yelling that woke them all. After all, he was still struggling to get a good night's sleep himself for the same reason.

"Chase... did Marshall have a nightmare?" Rocky whispered.

It figured that Rocky would be the one to figure it out, since it had only been a couple of nights since he went through the same thing.

"You got me... he did..." Chase whispered sadly, lowering his head. Worried mumbling and whimpering spread through the ranks at the news of the third pup to catch the apparent plague of night terrors.

"How bad was it?" Rocky asked.

"BAD." Chase replied immediately. "I've never seen Marshall cry so much."

"Well, don't keep us in suspense!" Skye said. "What got him like that?"

Chase went on to explain what Marshall had told him. About being yelled at. About being savagely beaten. About being insulted. About being left for dead. Chase had never seen so many wide eyes and dropped jaws in his life. But what about, he wondered? The fact that they'd beat Marshall to within an inch of his life? That they'd cast him out afterwards? That they'd give him a taste of the proverbial lash like that?

Chase's didn't have time to think about this before his explanation was cut off by a scream of "STOOOOOP!" from Rocky, who stood hunched over, breathing heavily and shaking like an earthquake.

"...URK-!" Mmmph-!" Rocky gagged hard. He hated the idea of extreme violence anyway. And that kind of violence coming from him? Being directed at one of his best friends? It was just too much for his stomach to handle. Zuma had run over and started rubbing his back.

"...how? How could Marshall dream we'd do something so awful?" Skye squeaked, looking like she was about to start crying herself.

"Did we upset him?" Rubble asked, also just barely holding it together.

"I don't know..." Chase replied. "But it really hit close to home for him..."

Chase decided to wait until Rocky was ready to listen again, since he was still obviously trying to keep from throwing up. After a few minutes, Rocky had avoided the worst.

"Ugh... ugh... s-sorry... I'm OK now..." Rocky panted.

"The worst part of all of it, though..." Chase continued, screwing his eyes shut. "...he thinks some of the dream is true..."

"WHAT?!" the other pups yelled, the blood rapidly draining from their faces.

"He thinks he's useless and stupid... that he's just an annoying, clumsy nuisance... that we'd be better off without him... that we... hate him... he didn't even wanna get near me, earlier... he probably thinks we'd love to... beat him up..." Chase continued haltingly. Just repeating what Marshall said hurt immensely.

"HE'S WRONG!" Skye yelled, cutting Chase off with tears in her eyes. Clearly she couldn't stand the idea of Marshall thinking she hated him either. "How could he say that?! We all know how important he is to the team!"

Rubble, by this point, had started to cry, too. "Marshall's one of the best friends we could ever have! We know he's clumsy! But that's just who he is! Why does he think we'd attack him for it!?" he sobbed.

"All those good times we had... all the people we helped with him... do they not matter at all?" Zuma said, staring at the floor, eyes wide.

"I thought my nightmare was bad... but... that-!" Rocky quickly cut himself off, straining not to throw up as the thoughts filled his head again.

"And yet... I yelled at him... I wasn't thinking... and all I did was make him feel worse..." Chase said guiltily.

"We have to help him!" Rubble replied, running for the door.

"Rubble, no!" Chase called after him. He froze in his tracks. "Marshall's... been through a lot tonight... he just wants his teddy... I came down to get it for him... we're gonna stay with Ryder tonight."

Rubble whined in response, sadly dragging himself back to the others.

"Well, if Ryder knows, I guess that helps..." Skye said, continuing to cry. "But we've gotta try and cheer him up tomorrow! I won't let him think we hate him!".

Rocky's face slowly began to light up. "Wait a minute... 'good times'... 'good times', Zuma, you're a genius!" flashing a grin at the chocolate labrador.

"Huh? I am?" Zuma replied, confused.

"When I had my nightmare and Marshall was trying to cheer me up, he brought up some of the memories we had. Us rebuilding Alex's treehouse, racing each other, and even... ugh... hosing me down after we pulled Mayor Goodway's car out of the mud..." Rocky went on, eliciting muted giggles from the other pups. "If we can show him all the happy memories we had, it'll show him that that nightmare was a load of junk! After all, if we hated him, why would have had all that fun with him?"

The pups stared at him for a while, their faces slowly lighting up.

"Rocky, Zuma... that's it!" Chase said excitedly.

Skye's tears stopped near-immediately as she bounded over and nuzzled Zuma, before doing the same to Rocky. "We can do that!" Skye added. "We have all kinds of good memories with him!"

"Like when we raced down the waterslides..." Rubble said, clearly feeling nostalgic already.

"Alright everyone. Looks like we have a plan. Tomorrow, we go cheer Marshall up! But first, we all need to go to bed. It's late, and I think we're gonna need all the energy we can get." Chase said.

The pups agreed and bid each other goodnight. As he watched them all return to their houses, Chase went over to Marshall's and recovered the stuffed, brown bear. It had been tossed to the back of his house. Did Marshall kick it away in panic? Still, no point dwelling on it. Marshall needed him... and just about everyone else, for that matter. He quickly turned around and went back to the Lookout.

"Chase, wait." a voice called behind him.

Chase looked around with the bear still in his mouth to see that the voice belonged to a worried-looking Rocky.

"Rockhy?" Chase replied around the stuffed bear in his mouth. "What'sh wrongh?"

"Look... I know Marshall's in a lot of pain... but what about YOU?" Rocky asked. "I heard what you said. I haven't heard you get like that since your own nightmare a week ago."

Chase looked at his friend's concerned face. As much as he wanted to tell him how upset he was that Marshall could dream of them mauling him, and that he was still on edge about his own dreams last week, Chase had been cagey about his own feelings. He cared deeply about how the others were feeling, but he'd been trying to avoid the subject of his own fears around anyone who wasn't Ryder.

He worried that the other pups would simply lose even more morale if they saw their second-in-command continue to be vulnerable. He heard how they struggled to focus on an emergency the day after his nightmare since they were so worried about him, so the best cure for this would be to simply be brave. The nightmarish thoughts would soon go away... wouldn't they?

"Rockhy, I'b phine, weally." Chase said, unconvincingly. "Jhusht ghet shome shleep, okhay?"

He hurriedly made for the door, trying to break off the conversation quickly.

"Chase! Wait!" Rocky shouted after him.

"Ghoodhnithe, Rockhy." Chase replied with a degree of force without breaking his stride or even looking at him as the door closed behind him. Rocky stared as he went towards the elevator.

"Oh, Chase... why are you avoiding us like this?".

As Chase hopped through the dog door in Ryder's bedroom door, the situation was oddly serene. Ryder was sat up in bed with the pillows propped up against the headboard, leaning forward with his eyes half-closed and embracing Marshall, who sat there quietly, his head tucked under Ryder's chin with one eye half-closed and the other closed completely. The bedroom light was much dimmer than when he'd left.

Chase blinked. Were Ryder and Marshall just sat there cuddling the whole time he was gone? Still, if there was anyone who needed it right now, it was him. Odds are they hadn't even spoken a word to each other since he left. With a pang of jealousy, Chase hoped that this would help calm Marshall down before bed. As they heard Chase enter, Ryder glanced over and Marshall half-opened his other, still-bloodshot eye.

"Oh, hey, Chase. Good job there." Ryder whispered. "Just bring it over here."

"Chase..." Marshall whispered drowsily.

"Shhhhhhhhh..." Ryder gently interrupted.

Chase didn't try and say anything as he hopped on the bed and deposited Marshall's teddy next to him. Ryder then slowly laid Marshall down on his back next to Chase. "Chase. Roll over." Ryder whispered. Chase knew what was coming next as he did as he was told. Ryder did this with him and Rocky, too. Ryder then reached down and slowly, yet firmly rubbed their bellies. Usually, belly rubs were saved for when he wanted to praise his pups on a job well done or to play around with them. Here, though, it was strictly for comforting purposes, great for when they couldn't sleep or were particularly upset. And sure enough, it worked wonders as Marshall and Chase lay completely still, eyes closed, their minds going blank and looking more peaceful than they had all night.

After a few minutes of the two pups lying next to each other in bliss, Ryder had slowly moved them up the bed next to him and set his pillows back to normal. Marshall lay next to Ryder with Chase laying behind him. As Ryder put Marshall's teddy in his arms, Chase leaned over and nuzzled him. After all of Ryder's efforts, Marshall was finally ready to sleep for the night. Ryder reached over and turned off the light, plunging the room into darkness. And as he settled back down, he placed an arm over Marshall and Chase.

"Sweet dreams, pups." he whispered.

"Good night, Ryder, sir." Chase whispered back.

When no reply came from Marshall, Ryder continued his sentence in his head.

"And goodness knows you're gonna need them..." he thought. Marshall fell into a dreamless sleep not long after, with Chase and Ryder not far behind.

* * *

 ** _And that's Chapter 3 over and done with. You may have noticed that I didn't write Zuma with his speech impediment here. I thought that since this was meant to take place recently (a ways into Season 5 at the time of this writing), that is, after Zuma got a different VA, I'd just leave it out. Still, I've seen a lot of fics where Zuma still has it, so if need be, I can always 'wevise it' to give it back. It'd be no trouble to do this, so if people want to see it, then don't be shy. Thanks for listening, and I'll be back tomorrow. Goodnight.  
_**


	4. Time Waits for No Pup

The morning arrived. The bright, sunny weather betrayed the night of drama that preceded it. As Ryder's alarm clock hit 9AM, all three of them woke to the shrill beeping forcibly dragging them back to the waking world. Everyone had slept terribly. While Ryder was able to put the pups to bed, they woke up as though they'd not gotten any sleep at all. Ryder struggled to find the strength to silence his alarm before turning to Marshall and Chase, half-asleep.

"Ugh... morning, pups." Ryder mumbled.

Chase yawned as he tried to wake himself up.

"Morning... Ryder, sir." Chase replied.

At this point, Ryder would ask if his pups slept well, but it didn't take much to realise that the answer was clearly 'no'. Not that Ryder was doing much better. Marshall was facing Ryder as he slept, and he groggily stared into space as he woke.

"You doing OK, Marshall?" Ryder asked.

Marshall looked Ryder in the eyes, showing the boy that his pup was still miles away. After a few solid seconds, all Marshall mustered was a sad sigh before breaking his gaze.

Chase looked down and quietly whined. Third verse, same as the first. Chase had been like that in private the morning after Ryder calmed him down, as had Rocky after Ryder had done the same for him. The only difference being that with Rocky, it wasn't private at all.

"Why is this still happening?" Chase thought.

"Oh, Marshall..." Ryder said as he reached over and rubbed the pup's head.

Chase got to his feet.

"Ryder, sir. I'm going to go talk to the other pups." Chase said.

"OK, but make it quick. I'm gonna stay here a while." Ryder replied.

At this point, Ryder had pulled Marshall into his arms again. This time, however, Marshall just sat there limply. Chase leaned in and nuzzled his friend.

"Be right back." Chase whispered, before hopping off the bed and hurrying out the door.

To Chase's surprise, the other pups were already standing at the elevator, waiting for him. All of them looked exhausted, but Rocky looked utterly terrible. He looked as if he could barely stand.

"Oh, don't tell me Marshall's giving him nightmares again..." Chase fretted internally. He barely reached the bottom before Skye started things off.

"How is he?" Skye asked.

"Not good." Chase replied. "He's barely responding to anything or anyone."

"Just like me..." Rocky mumbled sadly. "What are we gonna do?"

"Yeah, what's the plan?" Rubble chimed in.

"Well, first things first, we can't overload him." Chase said. "I think if we all tried to comfort him at once, it'd make him feel worse. Remember he already dreamed that we ganged up on him and... and-"

"Please, don't say it..." Rocky interrupted queasily.

About fifteen minutes had passed. Ryder and Marshall hadn't moved at all. Ryder was still trying to talk to Marshall from time to time, but if he got any responses at all, they were muted and incomprehensible. Ryder worried about how he could make Marshall feel better. He'd have to talk to the other pups. Hopefully Chase would be back soon and hopefully he'd given the others the gritty details. Ryder's train of thought, however, was swiftly derailed by the beeping of his Pup Pad. His heart sank.

"Oh, no..." Ryder thought.

With a massive deal of reluctance, Ryder put Marshall down on the bed.

"Wait here, OK?" he said.

No reply. Ryder sighed as he moved towards the Pup Pad. As he picked it up and prepared to answer, he took a deep breath before putting on his usual smile.

"Ryder, here!" he said as Mr. Porter's face appeared on the screen.

"Ryder! Sorry to wake you, but we've had a little spill, here." Mr. Porter explained. "There was a shipment of vegetables due in today, but the truck broke down and crashed into a lamppost! The vegetables are all over the road and the lamppost is really bent out of shape. Can you and the Paw Patrol lend a hand?"

Ryder's furrowed brow betrayed what he was about to say. This was the last thing they needed right now. Usually, he'd take to an emergency with gusto. But with one of his pups in such a state, he certainly did not want to have to deal with this for who-knows-how-long. But still, an emergency was an emergency. The sooner he could get this mess cleaned up, the sooner he could see to Marshall again.

"Don't worry, Mr. Porter! We'll have this cleaned up fast! No job is too big, no pup is too small!" Ryder declared.

"Unless they're in a total funk..." he continued internally. He hung up the call and emitted a groan.

Marshall watched on. While he still hadn't stopped thinking about the nightmare, and his head was continuing to work overtime on thinking about what the pups thought of him, he was alarmed at Ryder's reaction. Ryder's face usually lit up whenever there was an emergency to tackle with the Paw Patrol.

"Uh, Marshall? Could I, er-" Ryder said nervously.

"Oh, um..." Marshall replied, rolling over and staring at the wall.

"Paw Patrol: To the Lookout!" Ryder proclaimed, as he summoned the others, having finished getting dressed.

"Ryder- needs... us?" the pups replied. It took a little while for what was happening to sink in.

"Oh, no! Of all times, why now?!" Zuma complained.

"Oh, there goes the plan..." Rocky added drearily.

The pups reluctantly dragged themselves into the elevator.

"We kind of have a bigger emergency here! Can this wait?!" Skye said angrily.

Chase and Rubble couldn't find it in them to reply. All they could do was pray that they weren't called on.

They hopped out of the elevator. This would usually be the point where Chase would proclaim that they were ready for action. But this time, Chase didn't feel like saying much of anything. Not least because Ryder wasn't actually there.

"Huh? Er, Ryder, sir?" Chase said.

The pups looked around the room, confused. It wasn't often that the pups would beat Ryder to the Lookout.

"Ryder, sir?" Marshall finally spoke again after turning back around. "If there's been a crash... shouldn't I be there to check if anyone's hurt-"

"Out of the question!" Ryder forcefully replied.

As Marshall flinched back in terror, Ryder realised that he was too rash, and thought carefully before speaking again. This time more gently.

"Sorry, buddy. But I can't send you out there now. Not like this. The last thing you need to be thinking about is an emergency. But the other pups will want to see you. They're probably worried sick."

Marshall gulped. He couldn't shake the feeling that they were all going to be furious at him. But for what? Scaring them? Thinking they'd attack him that viciously? Before Marshall could object, he was interrupted by Ryder gently picking him up and cradling him in his arms as he slowly left the room holding him close. With no other recourse, he nervously clung to his owner's torso as he carried him to the Lookout.

"Is he... still with Marshall?" Rocky asked, growing more fearful about his friend was.

Before anyone could answer, Ryder quietly came around the corner with Marshall in his arms.

"Ah! There's the pup of the hour!" Skye said. "Marshall! Are you OK?"

Marshall turned towards Ryder and squeezed his eyes shut, desperate to avoid meeting the gaze of the worried pups. This was swiftly followed by a chorus of voices. "What happened last night?" "Do you really think that?" "We were all so worried!". Marshall couldn't bear to hear them like this. Least of all because those same voices were viciously berating him in his dream last night.

"Pups, that's enough!" Ryder commanded, noticing Marshall's distress. With a collective whine, the voices stopped.

"Marshall went through a lot last night. Take it easy with him." he continued.

Chase, who'd remained quiet, glowered at his companions. "Didn't we just say we wouldn't do this?!" he thought.

Ryder gently set Marshall down next to him.

"Pups, I know this is a bad time, but there's been an accident near Mr. Porter's." Ryder explained. "A truck hit a lamppost just in front of the store. There are vegetables all over the road, the lamppost the truck crashed into was destroyed and the truck itself is a wreck."

Nobody had anything to say in response. "So for this, I'll need... Rocky." he went on. The mixed breed's heart dropped.

"What?! NO!" he yelled. Marshall looked right at him, surprised.

"Look, I know you really want to stay here. I do, too." Ryder replied, "But this is an easy fix. Marshall will still be here when we get back. You'll have plenty of time to talk later."

Rocky tried to find a retort, but for the time being, words failed him. "...OK..." Rocky squeaked defeatedly with a hefty sigh.

Ryder couldn't help but sigh back. "Anyway, I'll need you to clean up all the veggies left on the road and fix the lamppost into place later on." he continued.

Rocky stared sadly at him and nodded slowly. "Not even a catchphrase?" Marshall thought.

"Alright... Chase." Ryder went on.

Immediately, the german shepherd slammed his paw into the ground in frustration. He saw that one coming a mile away.

"I'll need you to direct the traffic until the road's been cleaned up." Ryder said.

"Argh... f-fine..." Chase growled, not meeting Ryder's eye for glaring at the floor.

Ryder didn't bother saying anything in response. Normally, he'd admonish Chase for acting like this, but he honestly wanted to do the exact same thing. Marshall continued to watch on in shock.

"And finally..." The pups all looked at each other nervously. "...Rubble."

"HUH?!" the bulldog jumped upright.

"I'll need you to haul the new lamppost into place and remove the broken one with your crane." Ryder continued.

Rubble looked like he was going to faint.

"Ryder, sir... I... can't do it..." Rubble whined. "I can't just run off and leave Marshall! Look at him!" he went on.

"I'm sorry, Rubble, but we can't leave this matter alone, either!" Ryder said, frustrations now laid bare. "For once, nobody wants to do this! Me included! But it's not like we're just gonna leave Marshall alone!"

Ryder paused. Seeing Rubble recoil in response to his words, he realised that frustration wasn't going to solve anything. After taking a couple of deep breaths, he went on calmly.

"The others can take care of Marshall while we're gone. And it's not like I'll be leaving him like this, either. Have some faith, OK?"

Rubble sniffled a bit. "OK... I'm sorry, Ryder, sir..." Rubble sadly replied.

"Hey, don't worry about it. The sooner we take care of the task at hand, the sooner we can come back." Ryder said reassuringly.

Marshall couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. Usually, everyone jumped at the chance to handle an emergency. Solving problems like this was the generally agreed upon idea of a good time among the pups. But now? They were all upset and frustrated about being called away. Ryder included. What was going on? Were they really all that worried about him? They'd all ignore an emergency for him? After Chase's nightmare, everyone was averse to going to solve an emergency since they were all so worried, but would they really do the same for him?

"OK, pups. Go get ready. I'll be right back." Ryder instructed as he swiftly took off.

But not towards the pole. Rather, he ran to the elevator. As he disappeared behind the closing doors, Rubble ran right up to Marshall. As he nuzzled against him, Marshall froze up in fear.

"I'll make it quick. I promise." Rubble whispered, fighting back the urge to cry.

His friend? Scared of him? Just thinking about it was bad enough, but seeing it in real life was enough to give him nightmares of his own. Rubble ran towards the slide and disappeared down it.

Rocky was next, nuzzling Marshall himself. Again, he froze up.

"You aren't alone, Marshall. Sit tight, OK?" Rocky said.

His stomach seized up slightly. Deep down, he hoped that Chase was exaggerating, and he hoped that the crying last night was somehow fake. That razor-thin delusion was quickly blown apart then and there, confirming that yes, Marshall really did dream about getting mauled by him. Rocky hopped onto the slide.

Finally, Chase slowly approached Marshall. He decided to dispense with everything and downright hug the dalmatian. This time, however, Marshall didn't freeze up, instead lying there and letting himself be hugged.

"Be strong, Marshall. I'll be right. Back." Chase told him firmly, before running off to the slide himself.

There were a few minutes of awkward silence. Skye and Zuma looked at each other nervously. As much as they wanted to speak to Marshall now, they had to wait their turn. Every second felt like a minute. Every minute an hour. They'd discussed that they had to talk to him one at a time, alone, to try and cheer him up and avoid overloading him. All the while their usual little ball of clumsy sunshine lay there staring emptily into space. Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, Ryder came back up the elevator, breathing heavily.

"Come here, Marshall." he whispered, cradling the dalmatian once more and slowly walking over to the elevator.

Ryder gently laid Marshall down in the dark red pet bed he'd retrieved and set in front of the TV. Usually, they were reserved for sleepovers or if the pups got sick. This time, however, was an exception. Ryder wanted to make sure that Marshall was comfortable while he was gone. He'd also laid out two dog bowls in front of it filled with kibble and water. Marshall was bound to be hungry if he ever picked himself back up soon, after all.

Ryder kneeled down and kissed Marshall on the head.

"Take all the time you need. I imagine the others will want to talk to you. I'll be back before you know it." Ryder said soothingly, before running back for the elevator.

Marshall didn't reply. In fact, he barely noticed what was going on. While he was still there, his mind was far away, and didn't show any signs of coming back soon.

Ryder ran through the top floor of the Lookout, stopping short of the pole.

"Skye, Zuma. Try to be careful with him. Don't overdo it." Short of breath, Ryder looked back and issued one final set of instructions to those who stayed behind.

The pair nodded as Ryder slid down the pole and out of sight. Ryder rode his ATV out of the Lookout with Chase, Rubble and Rocky all waiting for him.

"Sorry to keep you pups waiting." Ryder panted, not bothering with his usual catchphrase as he rode to the head of the pack and the four departed.


	5. Getting Off the Ground

As the wail of Chase's siren cut through the air, everyone was completely quiet as they passed through the streets of Adventure Bay to the scene of the accident. Everyone was in decidedly low spirits and they hadn't even gotten started yet. Finally, the quiet was broken by Rocky speaking through his Pup Tag.

"Ryder, sir? Can I say something?" he asked. The fear in his voice implied that no-one was going to like what he was about to say. Ryder had a feeling that he knew full well what Rocky was about to say.

"Go ahead, Rocky." Ryder replied, bracing himself.

"IT'S NOT FAIR!" Rocky screamed, slamming his paws into the steering wheel as hard as he could. "Of all the times we had to go solve a problem, why did it have to be now?! You saw how Marshall was! He was just as bad as me a few days ago! He barely left my side at all when I really needed him! And now that he needs us, we..."

Rocky started tearing up. Ryder thought it best to let him get it off his chest. After all, Rocky knew exactly how Marshall was feeling.

"Rocky, I think we're all feeling as angry as you right now. I'm sorry, but screaming at each other isn't going to resolve anything." Ryder tried to reassure him.

Chase whined as he listened in. "We all think it's not fair. We all want to stay behind. But we can't ignore our duties, either. We're all responsible for Adventure Bay's safety, and no matter what, we can't just ignore problems and hope they go away." Ryder continued.

"What, like the one back home?" Rocky asked bitterly.

"Don't you trust Skye and Zuma?" Ryder replied. "They're not exactly gonna run off and play while Marshall is like this. In fact, they looked scared when I left. They hate seeing him like this, too. They want him better as much as the rest of us."

"But-" Rocky stammered.

"Look at it this way. Have any of you pups been known to do things by half-measures?"

"Er... well, I- no, but-"

"Well, there you go. Skye and Zuma are going to try their hardest to make Marshall feel better. We'll have time to play our own parts later. What I want is for you to have faith in them. You can do that for me, right?"

There was a long pause as Rocky took time to soak in his owner's speech. The atmosphere was as thick as mud. But eventually, the silence was broken by a sniffle from Rocky.

"OK... I'll try." he said quietly.

"There you go. Good pup." Ryder replied, reassuringly. "Let's get this over with quick, shall we?" The response from the three was unanimous.

"Right!"

Back at the Lookout, Marshall's head continued to work overtime, rendering him completely unresponsive to the outside world. While the TV played in front of him, it may as well have not even been there for all he cared. He lay listlessly in the pet bed, thinking about what had gone on that day and the pups' reactions to him, as he had done all day. He wondered over and over if they would ever attack him the way he'd dreamed about. If they thought that he was nothing but a screw-up. If they thought that he was useless and annoying. He ended up squeezing his eyes shut at the thoughts as the nightmare played through his head again. Images of him being savagely bitten and thrashed came to mind as his breathing quickened in fear. Unaware of the fact that Skye and Zuma were watching him through the door.

"That's it, we've gotta do something now." Zuma whispered to Skye.

"Yeah, I'm not letting him think like that anymore. I'll go first. You know the drill. Stay here and don't make a sound." Skye whispered back.

"Will do... Good luck."

Skye took a deep breath. She'd spoken to Chase and Rocky before when they got like this, but at least neither of them dreamed of her viciously mauling them. Worse is that Marshall seemed to believe that she might actually hate his guts. She couldn't help but feel betrayed. They spent all that time together and for what? Still, Marshall wouldn't have chosen to have a dream like that. Plus, she'd helped cheer up two terrified pups before, she could do it again. Without further delay, she slowly walked up to Marshall's bed.

Skye's fears were confirmed the moment Marshall laid eyes on her and flinched away in fear. Not once had he ever given her the terrified look he had now. Her heart sank as she saw that yes, Marshall was geniuinely scared of her.

"Hey, hey, easy, Marshall. I'm not gonna hurt you." she whispered. Marshall's reaction remained unchanged. Skye paused for a bit as she struggled to think of something to say.

"Marshall... is it true? Do you... really think we hate you?"

"Y-yes... er- no? Ugh, I don't know..." Marshall buried his face in his paws.

"Oh, jeez, I thought the nightmares before were bad..." Skye laid down in front of Marshall. "Please, don't tell me you think I'd really... attack you..."

"Not just you... everyone..."

"Well, even so, where did all of this come from? When have we ever gotten that violent with each other?"

"I-I don't know, but it could always happen..."

"No it couldn't! What would it take to make one of us do something like that?! Me, Zuma, Rubble, everyone was shocked when they heard what you dreamed about! How could any of us want to beat you up?!"

Skye froze on the spot. She realised that she was starting to get just like Chase was last night. Her emotions were starting to get away with her, and Marshall looking even more frightened served as a giant red flag for her. As hurt as she was that a friend could even consider that she'd do something like that to them, getting emotional here would only make things worse. She paused and took a few deep, slow breaths, trying to collect her thoughts before opening her mouth again.

"Marshall... when we heard about your dream last night, none of us could believe it. Heck, Rocky nearly puked and Rubble tried to go see you then and there. Absolutely NONE of it is true at all. I know we argue sometimes, but that's just what a family does, isn't it? It doesn't lead to a fight like that... nothing would lead to a fight like that among us."

"But... I'm clumsy... I screw up a bunch..."

"And Chase is bossy, Rubble is greedy and Rocky pees himself at the thought of a bath. What's your point?"

"...huh?"

"Do you really think our flaws would cause us to turn on each other? We've known each other since we were, what, a few months old? You're a silly pup, Marshall. But you're OUR silly pup. And we wouldn't trade you for anything."

As Skye's words sank in, Marshall visibly relaxed after a few seconds. He still looked frightened, but the fact that he wasn't curled up in a shaking ball any more gave the cockapoo hope that what she was saying was having an effect.

"But... usually, when I want to help, I screw up... I'm dangerous, right?" Marshall whispered.

Skye actually smiled in response. "Now you really ARE being silly. You climb ladders, you fight fires, and heck, you're even the best at Pup-Fu out of any of us! None of us could do what you could! You should've seen Zuma trying to use your Pup Pack when you were sick!"

A tiny smile spread across Marshall's lips. "Oh yeah... I had to check him over after that..."

"Wait, was that... nah, couldn't have been." thought Skye.

"Speaking of 'check over', remember how you took care of me when I got sick too?" she said.

Deciding against asking what that had to do with anything, Marshall pushed the thoughts of his nightmare aside and cast his mind back to that time.

* * *

 _Skye coughed and retched as Marshall removed the syringe from her mouth after pushing the last of the vile-tasting medication. Somehow, seeing Marshall take it himself to a similar reaction just before her didn't make it any easier. Poor Skye had already forcefully emptied her stomach twice that day, and her desperate attempts to keep the medicine down may mean that she was about to do it again._

 _"Sorry, Skye... I know it's disgusting..." Marshall groaned._

 _He'd tried his best to keep himself quarantined once he knew that he'd caught the recent stomach virus making the rounds in Adventure Bay, but even keeping himself isolated hadn't helped. While Marshall couldn't deny feeling lonely, he didn't want everyone else to get sick, too. When Ryder brought a miserable-looking Skye in to the sick room, the feeling of his efforts being in vain stung quite a bit._

 _"Urk... It's fine, Marshall... Ugh, it tastes like bugs..." Skye replied nauseously._

 _Marshall glanced over and raised an eyebrow. "You ate bugs?" he asked._

 _"Huh? Ew, no! Urp-!" Skye cut herself off trying to keep what little remained of the contents of her stomach where they belonged._

 _"Sorry... I guess now's not a good time, huh?" he said guiltily._

 _"Ugh, no... don't... worry..." Skye panted in response. "I just hope... the others don't get sick, too..."._

 _Marshall was trying to put his equipment away before retiring to his own bed in the Sick Room. Skye had been set down by Ryder in her own bed with a water bowl next to her, neighbouring Marshall's. As Marshall placed the used syringe in a tub of sterilising fluid and removed his Pup Pack, he turned back to Skye._

 _"I hope so, too... Just the two of us being sick is bad enough..."_

 _Barely able to stand and desperate to get back to his own bed, he started to saunter back towards his bed, only to forget about the spare syringe he'd laid down on the floor, which he then proceeded to step on._

 _"Whoa! Ahhhhhhh!" The dalmatian shot ahead, rolling across the floor straight towards Skye._

 _"Aw, no." she thought, bracing for the black and white boulder rolling into her._

 _The two lay in a heap in Skye's bed, Marshall lying upside-down with his rear end sticking up in the air._

 _"Look, Marshall... I know you like to... take care of people... but injuring me is only gonna make this... tougher on yourself..." Skye joked weakly._

 _The two mustered some weak laughter as Marshall rolled over._

 _"Hey... You just gotta... roll with the punches, right?" he replied, trying to keep his stomach in check as he rolled back onto his front. He slowly got up and shuffled to his own bed, toppling into it like a falling tree._

 _"I was hoping that you wouldn't get sick like this..." Marshall groaned._

 _"Hey, I think it was only a matter of time, anyway... I probably got it from Jake or something." Skye replied._

 _"Still, I wouldn't even wish this on Humdinger... Heck, I'd take all the heat blisters in the world over this."_

 _"And I'd sooner fly with eagles... But hey, look on the bright side... we can feel like garbage together."_

 _Marshall couldn't help but snort. "Some bright side. But still, beats being alone with this... I was going crazy up here."_

 _"You know, if you ever wanted some company... you only had to ask."_

 _"Not if meant the rest of you getting sick! What kind of EMT would I be... if I let that happen?"_

 _"You know, we'd feel even worse... leaving you all by yourself up here... even if we got sick too... it's worth it if it means we can... urgh... make sure you're... OK... Urp-!"_

 _Skye's stomach had started to tie itself in knots again. She curled up tighter as she tried to fight off the urge to take another trip to what the Paw Patrol took to politely calling 'The Gut Bucket'._

 _"Easy, Skye! Deep breaths!" Marshall instructed frantically. He knew that if Skye started to puke, he'd end up following in short order._

 _After a little while of listening to her stomach rumble unhappily, Skye's breathing slowed again._

 _"Ugh... I'm... good." she whispered._

 _Marshall sighed with relief._

 _"Phew... maybe we should try to get some sleep... ugh." he grumbled, his own stomach flaring up a little from the sudden rush of adrenaline._

 _"Good idea. And remember, don't worry about us. We're always happy to come see you if you get sick..." Skye croaked. Marshall smiled at the thought of the other pups having his back like that as he laid his head down._

 _"Thanks, Skye..." he whispered as the two pups settled down to sleep off their illness._


	6. An Ocean of Troubles

"I felt bad for Ryder, though. Poor guy had to empty the Gut Bucket every day... then he started filling it himself." Marshall said.

"Ugh, Marshall, don't mention the Gut Bucket to me, that was just gross." Skye giggled in reply.

Skye was taken aback by what she heard next. Maybe she was in denial of what was going on, but she could've sworn she just heard Marshall laugh slightly. It was brief, and seemed more like a quick, sharp breath out through his nostrils, but it was there... wasn't it? Plus, Marshall was actually reminiscing with her rather than just letting her talk. Wasn't that a good thing? A long period of silence ensued before Skye spoke up again.

"Anyway, it's you who looks after us when we're sick, even when you yourself are sick. And we always feel better at the end of it. Does that sound dangerous to you? Useless, even?"

Marshall, again, didn't reply. She only hoped that her time spent with him would help him over the hump.

"But still." she continued. "That offer still stands and it always will. If you wanna talk to someone when you're sick – or ever – we'll be more than happy to. All you have to do is ask. You'll do that, won't you?"

Another pause ensued before things took another small, but still surprising, turn. Marshall looked her in the eyes.

"Skye... thank you..." he whispered.

Skye got up and nuzzled him. And unlike before, Marshall only flinched briefly, but calmed down quickly.

"I think Zuma wants to talk to you, now. I'll leave you two alone." Skye said.

She frowned as Marshall tensed up again, praying that now that he seemed better, if marginally, Zuma would have an easier time of speaking to him. As she turned and moved for the door, she paused and looked back at Marshall.

"Remember Marshall, we're family. We'd NEVER turn on each other like that. We're here for you."

Once more, there was no reply. Marshall had retreated back into his own head to do battle with his thoughts once more.

Skye waited for the door to close before emitting a hefty sigh. It really was as bad as Chase had said. Something told her that she wouldn't sleep tonight seeing sweet, clumsy Marshall like that. Before she could reflect further on what happened, Zuma's voice jolted her back to reality.

"So? How was he?"

"Ugh, as bad as we thought. He looked like I was gonna jump him any moment."

"Aw, man... I dunno what I'd do if I had a dweam like that."

"But I think he's looking a little better. He actually talked to me a couple of times, and he only flinched a little when I got near him..."

Zuma perked up immediately.

"Weally?! That's gweat!" he beamed. Skye, however, continued to look solemn.

"Don't get your hopes up, Zuma. You've still got a lot of work to do. Remember that he dreamed that we... we..."

The words died in the back of her throat. She simply couldn't bring herself to say it again. Zuma whined and squeezed his eyes shut, clearly imagining it for himself, until he shook himself off and smiled.

"You know? I think I can handle it." he said.

"Well, someone's confident." Skye replied. "Are you sure? You saw how in the dumps he was."

"Oh, I saw, alwight. But you said yourself, he looks like he's getting better."

"Yeah, a little! But he froze again when I mentioned you!"

Zuma stopped, looking deflated.

"Oh... h-he did?" he whined.

Skye cursed herself. "Oh, real nice, Skye, put him down before giving him a chance..." she thought.

She stopped to consider what to say next.

"Look, he may be feeling a little better, but don't think it'll be easy. I think we're all going to need to be careful. And that includes you. Don't push him too hard, remember?"

The same instruction from their talk with Chase flashed through Zuma's head as he stared at the floor. Slowly, the chocolate labrador began to psyche himself up.

"Wight. Gotcha. I'm goin' in." he said with a determined look.

"Careful in there, Zuma." Skye cautioned behind him, as he strode through the door.

All things considered, Zuma's spirits were as high as ever. He walked with a confident spring in his step, with the thought in his head that things were going to be OK. Until he got in front of Marshall, and he was dragged cruelly back down to Earth. Zuma had barely opened his mouth when Marshall's eyes widened and he flinched back in fright, as if Zuma was ready to lunge at him. Zuma's face fell immediately. Seeing a friend afraid of him was a very difficult sight to process. Zuma's planned usual greeting was replaced with a more solemn "Hey, Mawshall...".

"Z-Zuma..." Marshall replied.

It was more than Skye got, but still, it wasn't much. Zuma lay in front of Marshall, just as before.

"Take it easy, dude. You make it look like I'm gonna jump you." Zuma said consolingly. Not something he was used to by any stretch. Nor was the silence that greeted him in response.

"Stay cool, Zuma." he thought. "Just try to cheer him up. You got this."

"So, uh... how are you?" Zuma said.

"I don't know..."

"Some dweam, huh?"

"...well, since you tore me apart in it..."

Marshall screwed his eyes shut once more. Zuma gulped loudly.

"Ugh, that's just howwible. I'm a swimmer, not a fighter, man. That's weally more your thing, Mr. Pup-Fu." he said, flashing a grin.

Zuma could've sworn that he was losing it, but he thought he saw the corners of Marshall's mouth move upwards slightly. Emboldened, Zuma decided to press ahead.

"So... do you weally think... that we hate you? That we think you're useless?" Zuma asked.

"You all told me that I WAS useless. That I was only around to get in trouble... that you were all sick of rescuing me all the time..." Marshall's voice wavered as he recalled the horrific dream.

"Oh, please."

"...wha?"

"You're acting like none of us have ever screwed up and needed saving. Yeah, we've had to save you, but that doesn't make you special! C'mon, think about it. Skye got stwanded in the mountains, Chase got fwamed and locked up in Barkingburg and Wubble got stuck in a tunnel that one time. Plus, you're acting like we hate helping you out, which we don't at all. We all help each other out of a jam, man. That's just what we do."

Marshall blinked. He had to admit, he hadn't thought about that. "You... said I was a danger to the team, too... that I was too clumsy and stupid... that I was useless-." Marshall's voice started to crack.

"Nope!"

Caught off-guard at Zuma's shockingly casual interjection, Marshall looked directly at him, having avoided eye contact until now, noticing the same smile that usually occupied his face.

"That's just you being you, man. We'd be wowwied if you weren't clumsy. 'Sides, 'useless'? This coming from the pup who Pup-Fu'd his way out of an ambush?"

It wasn't long ago that Humdinger had made off with Adventure Bay's prized apple tree. He didn't seem to realise or care that Foggy Bottom wasn't exactly fertile ground for much of anything, never mind the lack of sunlight. If Adventure Bay had it, he wanted it. Naturally, Ryder and company were called in, with Marshall's ladder being needed for Cali, who'd stowed away in the tree. What they weren't expecting was for the Kitten Catastrophe Crew to resort to ambush tactics, diverting them into a canyon and attempting to ward them off with a bombardment of yarn. Odds are, they thought, Humdinger didn't exactly come up with that tactic by himself.

With retreat not an option, Marshall resorted to Pup-Fu to deflect the yarn balls with naught but his own paws while the others drove there to back them up. Chase himself told Marshall that without him, the mission would've been a bust. Marshall didn't really think very much of it at the time, but now that Zuma was bringing it up, he was starting to have second thoughts.

"Was I... really that good?" Marshall asked.

"Totally, dude!" Zuma replied excitedly. "That sounded so cool! I only wish I coulda seen it!"

Marshall couldn't help but smile again, this time more widely, his body relaxing from its tense state once more. As Marshall's smile grew, so too did an overwhelming sense of relief in Zuma. He had doubts as to whether his tactics would work, and a huge sigh of relief escaped his mouth when he found his doubts to be unfounded.

"See? Just a silly dweam. That's all." Zuma's voice shifted back to being consoling, as he placed a paw on Marshall's cheek. Marshall jumped slightly, but otherwise relaxed. "Not even a little weal."

Seeing his normally cheerful friend so depressed was utterly haunting. But seeing him smile again made the sight worth it.

"I guess so..." Marshall mumbled, the smile having faded. "Still... it was... so horrible and real... the fight, the attack-"

"Whoa, dude, I'm gonna stop you there." Zuma interrupted. "Skye said it, evewyone else is gonna say it, and I'm gonna say it. NO. WAY. Would we EVER attack one another like that. Not you, not Wocky, not Chase, not anyone. We all care about each other too much for that. 'Sides, if I hated you, would I have been with you when you had that shot last week?"

Marshall cringed again, but for a different reason entirely. Ironically, if there was one thing he couldn't stand aside from heights, it was needles. Still, he couldn't help but recall the week before.

* * *

 _"Alright, Marshall, we're ready for you."_

 _The vet's low, gentle voice didn't do a great deal to soothe Marshall's nerves, which had already frayed significantly. In part because he was the last of the pups to get vaccinated. After the stomach virus had passed through Adventure Bay, Mayor Goodway decided that she wasn't taking any chances, launching a campaign to get immunised. This included the Paw Patrol, and almost none of them were receptive to the idea._

 _Chase took his like a champ and while Rocky was scared witless before going in, he came out his usual cheerful self. But Rubble fainted, the poor thing. Marshall only wished that he could be unconscious for his shot. When Rubble came to, he didn't even realise it had been done._

 _Things got a bit more... complicated where Skye was concerned. After seeing Rubble faint, she waited until Ryder's back was turned before leaping out of the open window and making a run for it, forcing Ryder to run down the street after her, returning a few minutes later with a sad, exhausted-looking Skye in his arms. Watching the chase play out from the window was actually kind of funny. Then he remembered what she was running from, and the smile was swiftly wiped from his face._

 _"How is it that the medic pup can't stand a little needle?" Chase had asked him incredulously._

 _"I'm an EMT, not a doctor! My duties don't include giving people shots!" Marshall had replied defensively, much to the amusement of Chase. Despite everyone sans Rubble reassuring him that it wasn't that bad, all of it went in one ear and out the other for him._

 _When it was Zuma's turn before his, Marshall decided to try the same thing and make a break for it through the window. Literally, too, since the vet had gotten smart and closed it, resulting in Marshall bouncing off of it and scrambling his brains. He thought it worth a try at first, and that thought evaporated into painful regret near-immediately. As the dalmatian lay there seeing stars and the others laughed at their friend's hastily-concocted plan gone awry, the vet had come out to see what the crash was, dryly asking Ryder if he should add concussion treatment to the bill._

 _"Not scared... Not scared... Not scared..." Marshall repeated to himself as Ryder lead him in._

 _"How's your head, Marshall?" Ryder asked with a note of amusement._

 _"It still hurts a little..." Marshall replied, honestly._

 _"Well it's a good thing the vet closed the window, anyway. I don't want to have to deal with two runaway pups today. Trust me, it really doesn't hurt much at all."_

 _"That's what they all say..."_

 _"Because it's true! It'll be done in a flash, pal."_

 _Marshall, of course, didn't buy it. As he entered the vet's room, he was a little surprised to see Zuma still laying on the table, grinning as per usual._

 _"Huh? Zuma? Didn't you just have your shot?" Marshall asked, confused._

 _"Yep!" he replied. "I'm still here 'cuz you need yours."_

 _"You have quite a friend here, Marshall." the vet interjected. "When Zuma here heard that you tried to jump out the window, he insisted on being here with you."_

 _Marshall stood there, astonished._

 _"Aww, Zuma..." was all he could bring himself to say. Zuma was always a laid-back, caring pup, but he didn't think he'd go this far._

 _"Alright, Ryder. Go ahead." the vet continued. Before Marshall could think any further, Ryder had scooped him up and laid him down next to Zuma._

 _The fear set back in in a hurry, as Marshall whimpered._

 _"C'mere, dude." Zuma whispered, placing his arms around him._

 _Marshall wasted no time returning the favor, squeezing his friend tightly._

 _"Don't be scared, man. It's only a scwatch." Zuma continued. "I'm with ya, OK?"_

 _Marshall gulped. As he saw the vet approach, needle in hand, he squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face in Zuma's neck as Ryder held Marshall's other paw tightly._

 _"You're fine, Marshall." Ryder said comfortingly._

 _That was the last thing he heard before Marshall felt the sharp sting of the needle being inserted into his arm. He squeaked in pain and held his breath as a dull hiss filled the room._

 _"There you go. All done."_

 _What felt like half a minute actually lasted no more than three seconds. The vaccination was over. Marshall still felt a small stinging feeling in his arm, but he looked over to see the vet discarding the now-empty syringe into a waste bin. Still clinging to Zuma with all his might, Marshall couldn't quite believe what just happened._

 _"Wait... that's it?" Marshall asked, wide-eyed._

 _"That's it." the vet replied, rubbing Marshall's neck. "Ha ha ha. And after all that fuss. That wasn't so bad at all now was it?"_

 _Marshall looked around the room. Ryder sat in front of him, smiling at him and continuing to hold his paw. Zuma lay close to him with the same smile. After running on adrenaline for the past couple of hours, the crash didn't take long in setting in. Marshall went limp and laid slack on the table, closing his eyes. After all the fear, the relief was a welcome sensation._

 _"You're such a good friend, Zuma... thank you so much..." Marshall whispered, snuggling Zuma._

 _"Aww, well. Someone had to." Zuma replied, giggling with embarrassment._

 _A few seconds passed of Marshall lying there, Ryder slowly scratching him behind the ears._

 _"So. Ready to go, Marshall?" he asked._

 _Marshall didn't reply. He was close to falling asleep from all of what just happened. Zuma hadn't said a word until now, he just stayed there hugging Marshall._

 _"Er, Mawshall?" Zuma piped up. Another pause, and Marshall's tongue lolled out._

 _"Ugh, Mawshall! Weally!" Zuma recoiled in disgust at Marshall's tongue being mere centimeters from his nose._

 _"Oh, Marshall, honestly!" Ryder said, greatly amused._

 _"I'm sorry... guys... he... poisoned me... please... leave all my possessions... to Chickaletta..." Marshall whispered, putting on his best dying voice, trying not to crack up._

 _"Chickaletta?! Are you sewious?! You're going to all this twouble over one injection?!" Zuma yelled, unable to hold back the urge to laugh like a madman. It wasn't long before Ryder doubled over laughing too, followed by Marshall. The vet watched on as the three laughed at his patient's silliness._

 _"Well, now. Looks like I've saved a budding young acting career, too. And they say that this is a thankless job..." he mused to himself._


	7. Digging Deeper

"Hopefully next time you won't have to do that..." Marshall sighed.

"Nah, dude, if you needed me to be there, I would be. The only thing I minded was your bweath! What did you eat that day?!" Zuma replied, smiling widely.

Huh? Zuma thought he was hallucinating, but did Marshall just... giggle? The smile was small and the sound was quiet, but he could've sworn it was there.

"Now you're getting it." Zuma went on. "We all love you. That dweam? All in your head."

Zuma reached over and patted Marshall on the head. Marshall simply closed his eyes and lay there with Zuma. As time went on, thinking about the horrors of the nightmare was starting to get harder and harder. As it played out in his head, he found most of the scenes being interrupted by flashbacks to the times that Skye and Zuma mentioned as well as their kind words towards him. Every time Marshall cringed at the thought of the dream, Zuma always reassuringly rubbed his head.

"It's gonna take time to get over this, I know. Chase and Wocky could tell you that. But all of us will be happy to help you. You just come see us, yeah? And hey, next time I go surfing, I'll save you a board. How's that sound?" Zuma whispered.

Marshall looked straight at him. "That means a lot, Zuma... thanks..."

Zuma moved in and nuzzled him. "Any time, dude. Any time." he replied with utmost sincerity.

Zuma had decided to stay behind for a little while, since the others hadn't arrived back yet. The two lost track of time as they stared at the TV. Only Zuma was paying much attention, as he occasionally glanced over at Marshall to see him completely spaced out and occasionally see him start to breathe heavily. Each time he did, he soothed Marshall by rubbing his head again. None of them were sure as to how long they lay there before they heard the distinctive roar of engines approaching the Lookout.

"Huh. They're home early. Hope everything's OK." Zuma thought. He turned to Marshall.

"It sounds like they're back, dude. They're gonna wanna talk to you." Zuma said.

Marshall tensed up again, not replying.

"Hey, c'mon. They won't hurt ya. They all want you to get better as much as any of us." Zuma continued.

After a pause, Marshall eventually piped up. "Zuma... could you do something for me?"

"Anything." Zuma replied.

Zuma exited the Lookout with a spring in his step. Despite everything, things were looking up. Marshall was still looking down, but it looked like his spirits were starting to lift.

"It's not often I get good ideas like this!" Zuma thought, smiling to himself.

As he rounded the corner, he was met with the sight of Chase, Rocky and Rubble stopping their talk with Skye and turning towards him.

"Oh, Zuma! How is he?" Rocky immediately started.

"Still in the dumps." Zuma replied. "But at this wate, he's gonna be fine."

"He is?!" Rubble's face lit up at the news.

"He looks a lot better. He was pwetty calm just now." Zuma smiled at the fact he had some good news to share. "Where's Wyder?"

"Nice going, Zuma!" Chase cheered. "Mr. Porter needed help with something else, but Ryder sent us all home. He said he didn't want to keep us all away for too much longer."

Zuma paused. Did Ryder really have that much faith that they could bring Marshall around? That even though there was still a situation, he'd still send all of them home to see to their distressed friend? Suddenly, Zuma found himself more psyched up than ever.

"Anyway, dudes. Mawshall told me he wants to talk to Wubble first." Zuma explained, looking straight at the bulldog.

"Wha? Me first? Why?" Rubble replied, confused, but at the same time, happy that it was his turn next.

"Because he's wowwied about you. He said he'd never seen you weact like that to an emergency." Zuma said.

"Yeah, because we have a bigger one here!" Rubble retorted.

"Oh, I know, dude. But there's no point telling me that. Go on in, he's waiting for ya." Zuma said, stepping aside.

Rubble didn't wait to be asked again. He immediately made a beeline for the Lookout without another word.

"Don't overdo it, Rubble!" Chase yelled after him. When Rubble didn't reply, however, a feeling of worry grew in Chase's stomach.

Rubble desperately wanted to sprint full-tilt towards Marshall and give him a massive hug, but considering his condition, this would undoubtedly make things worse. As he walked towards the bed as fast as he could, Marshall turned to look at him, but surprisingly only flinched briefly at the sight of Rubble approaching him. Although Marshall's reaction to him may have been brief, it hurt just as much as his reaction at the briefing earlier.

"Uhh... Hi, Marshall." Being in such a hurry to reach Marshall didn't exactly leave Rubble time to plan out what to say.

"Hey, Rubble..." Marshall quietly replied.

A long, awkward silence ensued as Rubble lay down in front of Marshall. As much as Rubble had wanted to see Marshall, he had to admit, he didn't think this through very well.

"So... uhh... how're you doing?" Rubble asked.

"Fine, I guess?" Marshall replied.

"Good... good."

Rubble felt like slamming his head into the floor. "Smooth, Rubble. Smooth." he thought.

"Zuma and Skye help out any?" he continued.

"Oh yeah, yeah. Totally."

The pups glanced around. Neither of them were really sure what to say, but Rubble didn't come here for small talk. He had to broach the subject sooner or later. Steeling himself, Rubble spoke once more.

"Marshall... Have I been a bad pup lately?" Rubble whispered, wincing.

"Huh?" Marshall replied, suddenly growing concerned at his friend's expression.

"This awful dream of yours... have we done something to upset you?"

"Of course not! Well, OK, you dumped all that sand on me last week, but that was an accident! I'm not upset at all!"

"But... why? Why could you have had that dream? What made you dream about me... doing that?!" Rubble practically yelled.

It was easy to forget that Rubble was the youngest out of all of them. When Chase told them all about Marshall's nightmare, Rubble ended up picturing himself attacking Marshall in his head. Just thinking about him attacking one of his closest friends made him want to be ill.

"I- I don't know! It just... happened, I guess!" Marshall replied shakily, growing scared at how Rubble was acting.

"But how?!" At this point, Marshall couldn't help but pick up on Rubble's voice starting to crack. "We have to have hurt you somewhere! Why else would you have that horrible dream?! Us hurting... you... that's just... so..."

Rubble's attempt to stem the waterworks failed miserably. Marshall hadn't quite realised it, but Rubble was just as distressed as he was over his dream, and was suffering just as much as he was. Marshall began to feel very guilty indeed, and it didn't take long for him to join Rubble in tears.

"R-Rubble..." Marshall sniffled. Rubble looked up to see that Marshall had moved over to the side of the bed, extending one of his arms to invite Rubble in. Once more, Rubble didn't wait to be asked again as he got up and practically dove into Marshall's arms.

The sound of crying reached the ears of the other pups, and their blood quickly ran cold.

"What the-?! What's going on in there?!" Skye yelled.

"Oh, no! What did Wubble say?!" Zuma said.

"It sounds like he was scared of that nightmare, too!" Rocky replied. "Why didn't he say anything?! Now look what's happened!"

"Everyone, calm down!" Chase commanded. The pups quickly went silent and listened.

"If Rubble was scared too, then he needs this. I know that we're worried about Marshall too, but we need to let them get this out of their systems."

"But we can't just leave them! Just listen to them!" Rocky barked.

"Rocky, we've already said that we weren't going to overload him. I want to run in there and see if he's OK, too, but if it all got worse, then I wouldn't forgive myself. All we can do is wait."

After a period of silence, Rocky could only slam his paw into the ground. After his second attempt to see his distressed friend was thwarted, he started to feel distinctly powerless.

The pups listened for what felt like an eternity to the crying and whimpering coming from the Lookout as Rubble and Marshall clung to each other and shed tears of fear and guilt respectively. Rubble wasn't quite expecting to be the one crying in Marshall's arms, but Marshall's dream had been eating away at him all day. He wanted to tell Marshall about how wrong that dream was, but the thought of him or his friends being that vicious terrified him deeply. But eventually, the two pups managed to calm down enough to speak.

"R-Rubble... I-I'm so sorry... I... didn't know... I was s-scaring you... like that..." Marshall whimpered.

"D-don't apologise... Marshall... I'm supposed to be cheering you up... but I'm being such a... c-c-crybaby!" Rubble replied, still trying to bring his emotions back under control.

"But that's because of me! You're all trying to take care of me, and I'm... m-making you c-cry?!"

"It wasn't your fault! You didn't want to have that dumb dream! I want to make you feel better... but instead... I'm just being a pain..."

"Rubble, don't say that!" Marshall sobbed. "You all want to help and I'm just scaring you! I keep thinking you all want to tear me apart! All I'm doing is making you all feel worse! I-I-I-I'm being a million times more of a pain, here!"

The two were brought back down to sobbing again. For Rubble, hearing Marshall say that about himself hurt badly. Normally, he was the picture of blithe confidence, but now he was putting himself down over something that wasn't even his fault.

After a couple of minutes however. Rubble ceased crying. For a couple of seconds, he lay there in silence, before starting to snicker.

"...Rubble?" Marshall squeaked with tears still in his eyes.

Eventually, the snickering turned to giggling, before the giggling turned into full-on laughter. From outside the Lookout, Chase was listening in.

"That's it. He's lost it." Chase dryly thought to himself.

"Rubble, what's so funny?" Marshall was now thoroughly confused.

"Oh, Marshall! What is wrong with us?!" Rubble choked through his hearty laughter.

"Er... good question?"

"Listen to us! We're arguing and crying over who the bigger pain is! I was supposed to be talking to you, and now we're arguing over which of us is the worst! I thought we only had one silly pup around here!" Rubble threw himself onto his back and laughed uncontrollably.

After watching Rubble kick his legs in the air laughing for a while, Marshall started to see the funny side of it as well. A smile slowly spread across his face.

"I... guess... hehehe... that actually- ha ha ha- actually is... kinda funny!" Marshall tried to keep it together, but just couldn't stop himself from cracking up. After that brief period of pain, both pups felt decidedly silly over breaking down crying like that, and they both held each other in tears once more. But this time, the tears were joyful rather than sorrowful. Not that the other pups knew that as they listened in.

"Guys... I'm scared." Skye said with a freaked-out expression.

"THAT turned awound fast enough..." Zuma mused.

"Can't wait to hear the story behind this..." Chase said, looking concerned.

Eventually, Marshall and Rubble lay in each other's arms in silence. They were both feeling far more relaxed than before their respective laughing fits. It was a strange, but effective means of blowing off steam, despite leaving both pups more drained than ever. Eventually, Marshall decided to break the silence.

"So, Rubble... how'd it go? The emergency, I mean."

"Oh, it wasn't too bad. There were veggies everywhere, but Rocky took care of those. The smashed lamppost was an easy fix, and the traffic was pretty quiet. None of us wanted to be there, though. I finished first, so I came back here as fast I could." Rubble explained.

"Yeah, you all looked so upset! I've never seen you act like that towards an emergency before!"

"Why do you think that was? You were more upset than we've ever seen you! I'd rather be making sure you were OK than having to fix a stupid lamppost!"

Marshall paused. Were they really that worried about him?

"Actually, thinking about it, when Chase and Rocky had their nightmares, there weren't any emergencies at all. Heh, my rotten luck."

Rubble chuckled. "That's more like OUR rotten luck, man." Marshall giggled in response.

"Ah, that's more like it." Rubble whispered in relief. Despite everything, Marshall looked like he was coming back from the depressed wreck they saw earlier.

"Y'know..." Rubble continued. "This isn't the first time we've been lying here talking, is it? Remember when I couldn't sleep near when we first met?"

"Heh, more flashbacks..." Marshall thought, as he did what Rubble said.

* * *

 _Rubble groaned. Try though he might, he just couldn't get to sleep. He tossed, he turned, he rolled around, but nothing seemed to calm him down enough. The day wasn't very exciting. He was still getting used to driving his bulldozer and using the tools he was given by Ryder, but he felt like he was making progress. The thoughts of what could happen next kept his brain in overdrive, as much as he didn't want it to be. Maybe if he went for a walk, he'd probably feel like going to sleep, then. He got up and stretched, shaking himself off before setting off around the Lookout._

 _He looked jealously at the other pups. They were clearly having a far better night's sleep than he was. He arrived at Marshall's house, however, to find it empty._

 _"Guess he got up to pee..." Rubble thought._

 _"Hi, Rubble." came a whisper from behind him. Rubble stifled a yelp as he whipped around to see Marshall standing behind him._

 _"Oh... hey, Marshall... you scared me!" Rubble whispered back, smiling at how stealthy Marshall was._

 _"What am I to you, some kind of ghost?" he replied, to quiet laughter from the both of them._

 _"So what brings you here?" Marshall continued.  
_

 _"Ugh... I can't sleep. I don't know why, but I'm just not tired."_

 _"Aww, really? That's OK, I can't sleep too well, either, tonight. Wanna talk about it? There's enough room in my house for two pups to sleep."_

 _"A sleepover, you mean? Sounds good!"_

 _Rubble jumped at the chance. He hadn't been there very long, but already one of his new friends was offering to have a sleepover with him? Rubble really got lucky the day he chased that soccer ball. He followed Marshall inside and lay down a little ways away from him._

 _"Oh no you don't." Marshall said, grinning playfully and pulling the tiny bulldog in close._

 _Rubble froze in surprise. Was Marshall that comfortable around him already? The Paw Patrol seemed friendly, but he didn't think they were that friendly._

 _"So how're you finding the Paw Patrol?" Marshall asked.  
_

 _"You're all so nice... I wasn't actually expecting it." Rubble replied.  
_

 _"You've never had an owner or a litter?"_

 _"No, not really. I've been a stray... ever since I can remember..."_

 _Marshall whined. "That's so sad... You haven't had anyone to take care of you before?"_

 _"Nope. That food Ryder gave me was the first I'd eaten in days, remember?"_

 _Marshall hugged him tightly. "Well, don't worry, little guy. You've got us, now."_

 _Rubble couldn't help but hug him back. "Aw, don't worry about me. I'm a tough pup, remember?"_

 _"Still, we all need someone. You're a tough pup, but you're not invincible. No-one is."_

 _Rubble couldn't argue that point. Having an owner was one of the best things that ever happened to him in his short life._

 _"Well, what about you? How'd you meet Ryder?" Rubble asked._

 _Marshall laughed. "That's a loooong story." he replied. "It was all thanks to Chase. I wasn't always the pup I am today. I was kind of a loner for a long time. Chase and Ryder had just set up shop and Chase was looking for someone to play with. He came and talked to me and... well, the rest is kinda history."_

 _"I'm kinda surprised, though." Marshall continued. "Chase said that he'd had some of the most fun in his life playing with me, but I didn't think I was that fun."_

 _Rubble blinked. "Really? You? Not fun?"_

 _"Well, I thought all I did was crash into stuff. I wouldn't think that was much fun."_

 _Rubble giggled uncontrollably. "You do more than that! You've already played with me a bunch and made me laugh all the time! You're great fun!"_

 _Marshall looked away, embarrassed. "Aww, shucks..."_

 _He nuzzled and licked the smaller pup. "You're too sweet, you know that?"_

 _"Hey, don't embarrass me, too!" Rubble giggled._

 _Already the two were feeling more tired than before. Just laying there talking seemed to help quite a bit._

 _"So, uh... got any stories?" Rubble piped up. "Like, something that happened before I got here?"_

 _Marshall's face lit up. "Ooh, now that you mention it, I've got a great one!"_

 _The time flew by as Marshall regaled Rubble with a tale of how an electrical fault at City Hall set the building on fire, sending him, Chase and Rocky into action. Rubble listened with wide eyes, entranced by Marshall's story of the rescue of the Mayor and the battle against the raging flames._

 _As he wound up his tale, he looked down to see that Rubble had gone to sleep in his arms, nose buried in Marshall's chest, arms wrapped around him and a blissful expression on his face._

 _"Heh heh... I guess I have a way with words." Marshall thought. With a quiet yawn, he realised that this was a great idea._

 _"We should do this more often." Marshall thought as he hugged Rubble tightly, falling into the depths of sleep along with him._

* * *

 ** _Cut it pretty close with this chapter. I had to take it back in for a rewrite since I wasn't happy with it. Thankfully I managed to get it done before the deadline. Funny story, my only regret throughout the rest of this fic is not giving Rubble a bigger role. Is it just me, or does he not get as much attention as the other five pups in terms of fics? Maybe I'll remedy that at some point. Anyway, that's then and this is now. Thanks for listening, and I'll be back tomorrow. Goodnight.  
_**


	8. RGB

Marshall had his eyes closed as he reminisced. "Good times..." he whispered, smiling.

"Now there's the Marshall I know." Rubble said. "Do you feel any better?".

Marshall opened his eyes once more and looked at Rubble. "Getting there." he said, the smile not having left his lips.

Rubble simply moved in closer and hugged him tighter. "Thank goodness for that..." he said.

"Augh! Rubble! M-my neck! Can't... breathe!" Marshall choked.

Rubble jumped and swiftly moved his arms further down Marshall's body. "Ah! Sorry!" he said.

Marshall giggled as he hugged Rubble back. He really couldn't ask for better friends. Thanks to them, he really was feeling much better. Though there were still two that he hadn't talked to yet. He had the nagging feeling that they were more concerned than anyone about him. Rocky because he was obviously still suffering from his own nightmares about Marshall, and Chase because he was the one who found Marshall like that, and drove himself to tears trying to cheer him up. Marshall couldn't help but feel bad. He felt like he was responsible for causing their pain.

"Rubble... thank you for being with me. Even though my dream scared you so much..." Marshall said.

"Oh, forget it, Marshall." Rubble replied, licking Marshall's face. "Besides, that sleepover? If you ever wanna do that again, you just gotta ask."

Marshall smiled and snuggled closer to Rubble.

UUUURRRRRGGGHHHH...

The pups froze as they heard a loud, yet familiar noise.

"Oh. Um..." Marshall mumbled in embarassment, realising that the noise just came from him.

"Ha ha! I guess bad dreams take a lot out of you." Rubble laughed.

"Heh. Guess so." Marshall replied, looking towards the dog bowls that Ryder had left for him.

"Well? Don't let me stop you." Rubble said.

Marshall found himself more enthusiastic than he expected as he got up and moved to the bowl. One mouthful turned into two. Two became three. Before Marshall knew it, he was scarfing the food greedily. He didn't realise just how hungry he was after having not eaten for the entire day. He looked up from his meal to see Rubble smiling in relief at him.

"Ogh, hey, Rubphle. Wanth shome?" Marshall asked mid-mouthful. Rubble's eyes widened, wondering for a second if he heard Marshall correctly.

"Um, Marshall... I can't believe I'm saying this but... I'm not hungry."

Marshall swallowed his current mouthful and grinned. "Liar. You've always liked treats after a job well done."

"But that's YOUR food! You haven't eaten all day! I don't want to take it from you!"

"Hey, you needed cheering up, too! You need food as much as I do right now!"

Rubble opened his mouth to try and counter that point, before closing it and smiling. Even though Marshall's nightmare was still causing him pain, he was a stubborn as ever in looking out for everyone else.

"Classic Marshall..." Rubble thought to himself. "OK, OK... Twist my arm, why don't you?" Rubble giggled as he approached the bowl. With two hungry pups devouring the food, it didn't take long before the bowl was practically licked clean.

After eating and chatting with Marshall some more, Rubble finally exited the Lookout, feeling far calmer than before he went in. Despite everything seeming lost for a moment, Marshall was on his way back. He decided that he should let the other pups know of what was happening, but he only saw them for a brief moment before stopping at the sight of Chase giving him a worried look.

"Rubble... why didn't you tell us anything?" Chase said quietly. Suddenly, Rubble felt very guilty for keeping his feelings hidden from the other pups.

"Well, I... Marshall was already feeling bad and I didn't want to... make more work for you..." Rubble whispered.

"Oh, Rubble, don't keep your feelings hidden..." Chase replied, approaching him and placing a paw on his shoulder.

In the background, Rocky couldn't keep from rolling his eyes. "Like you?" he thought.

"When you bottle it up, it'll only come out at the worst time. Like there. You should have told us. We would've helped you out, too." Chase said quietly in a bid to try and comfort the younger pup.

"But... Marshall-" Rubble whispered.

"Also needs us. But we know that he needs us. With you, we had no way of knowing. If that nightmare was scaring you, too, you should've said something."

Rubble sniffled at having worried everyone. "I'm... sorry..."

Chase patted Rubble on the shoulder. "Hey, apology accepted, Rubble. But on one condition. If you ever feel like that again, speak up. It doesn't matter how much we have going on. We ALL have each other's backs at times like that."

Rubble looked at Chase and gave a small smile. "Thanks, Chase. I won't be afraid of that next time."

Chase leaned in and comfortingly nuzzled the bulldog. "That's the spirit, Rubble. Anyway, how's Marshall now?"

Rubble took a deep breath and calmed back down. "You know? I think he's gonna be OK." Rubble replied.

These words prompted a sigh of relief from the pups, but the loudest came from Zuma and Skye. They thought things were about to go downhill after hearing them both cry, and they thanked their lucky stars that Rubble was able to pull it back.

"But now he wants to talk to you and Rocky." Rubble went on.

Rocky didn't wait for a further invitation as he quickly moved to the Lookout.

"Rocky, wait!" Rubble yelled after him.

"Wait?! Wait for what?!" Rocky snapped back. He was clearly sick of waiting to talk to Marshall, and the lack of sleep was not helping his mood. Rubble flinched, not expecting to see Rocky so irritable.

"He... wants to talk to both of you... at the same time." Rubble said. Rocky and Chase stared at him.

"You're kidding, right?" Chase asked, giving him a funny look.

"I wish." Rubble replied. "He was very specific."

"OK, either Marshall's gotten much worse, or much better." Chase thought to himself. "Well... if he insists..." Chase said with a degree of apprehension, moving to join Rocky, who just stared confusedly at Rubble the whole while.

Chase couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong. Marshall had been so depressed that he'd barely responded to anything, with Skye and Zuma consoling him alone, but now he'd asked to speak to the two of them at once? After putting himself down so much? And after all that crying? Rocky looked similarly worried, but at the same time, looked like he was on the brink of collapse. The stresses of the day combined with the lack of sleep could drive anyone insane. The feeling of concern, however, evaporated quickly when they got in front of the bed and met Marshall's eye.

"Chase! Rocky!"

Marshall sprang up and leapt at the pair of them, knocking them both to the floor. Now Chase was really confused. In a complete 180 from the morning, Marshall looked like he was completely back all of a sudden.

Marshall wrapped his arms around the pair of them. "I missed you both! Are you OK?"

Chase paused before returning Marshall's hug and grinning. "That's my line, Marshall..."

Rocky took less time to hug Marshall back. He didn't think he'd be greeted by being jumped on and squeezed silly, but it was far from unwelcome.

They'd all moved back to Marshall's bed. Chase and Rocky had joined him in it, and although fitting three pups into it was a tight squeeze, the bed was just large enough to make it work, and it wasn't that uncomfortable. If anything, Marshall was more comfortable with Chase and Rocky at his side. Chase lay with one arm draped over Marshall's back, and Rocky simply opted to hug him, burying his face in Marshall's side.

"So... how've you been?" Chase began.

"Getting better." Marshall replied.

"Not feeling too bad?"

"Not anymore, I'm not."

"That was fast. What happened?"

Marshall beamed. "Skye, then Zuma, then Rubble."

Chase emitted a sigh of relief. "It worked... thank goodness." he thought.

"Chase... did you all... plan this? Did you all plan to try to make me feel better? Even though I... was so scared of you all?" Marshall asked, having put two and two together while laying with Rubble.

"Good guess. We did. We were all so worried. I've never seen you like that before. There's no way I, or any of us, would just leave you like that."

A pause. Marshall simply nuzzled Chase tightly in gratitude, a gesture which Chase was all too happy to return.

"Look, Marshall... I'm... sorry I yelled at you last night." Chase whispered.

"No, Chase, I'M sorry. I scared you all with this stupid dream of mine, and when you tried to help, I acted like you all wanted me dead... I've been a real selfish jerk..." Marshall replied guiltily.

"Oh, Marshall, don't say that! That was a really awful dream to have! I know I'd be a little scared if I had that kind of dream."

Marshall rolled his eyes briefly. "You should know..." he thought.

"It's not your fault, pal. None of us hold it against you. You know that, right?" Chase went on.

"I... think?"

"We'd NEVER turn on you or, heck, anyone. We don't think you're useless at all. We wouldn't trust anyone else to fight fires and climb ladders like you. And don't get me started on this whole 'annoying' business. We'd think there's something wrong with you if you WEREN'T a klutz. You're our silly, sunny little firecracker. I can't imagine the Paw Patrol without you in it."

"Oh, you're just saying that because I was one of the founding members..." Marshall replied, shrugging off Chase's words.

"Come on! If we had to get another fire pup, they'd never be able to fill the hole in the team! If we didn't have you..." Chase let out a whine. "It doesn't bear thinking about..."

Marshall let out a whine of his own, and nuzzled Chase again. "Oh, no! I'm sorry!" he whimpered, realising he was upsetting his friends again.

"Stop apologising, already!" Chase barked back with a mix of fear and irritation. "It's not! Your! Fault!"

Chase felt Marshall tense up in fright again and cursed himself.

"Didn't you learn anything from last night?! What's the matter with you?! Look what you're doing!" the voice in Chase's head yelled.

He took a few deep breaths. "Look, Marshall... I'm sorry for the yelling... But seeing you like this? It hurts... bad." Chase whispered, having brought his emotions back under control with the harsh lesson he learned last night. "None of us want to see you like this. Like I said, it's not your fault. All we want from all of this is to see you back to your old self..."

Marshall relaxed once more. "I guess we both feel rotten, then..." he mumbled.

"Yeah... but we're getting there..." Chase replied.

The three spent some time lying together in silence. Marshall just appreciated how far Chase was willing to go for him and the others, even though he himself was still in a lot of pain. He'd tried to keep it secret, but it was blindingly obvious to the other pups that Chase was just putting on a brave face. Any attempt to talk to him about it resulted in him changing the subject, pretending not to have heard them, or just saying that he was fine. Much though Marshall wanted to talk to him about it, he decided that Chase's resistence to talking about his own feelings meant that now would be a very bad time. Besides, Marshall had another nagging concern.

"You're awful quiet, Rocky. Are you OK?" Marshall piped up.

"...ah! Huh?! Oh, er... I'm fine... I guess... What about you?" Rocky slurred, caught off-guard at Marshall suddenly speaking to him

"You don't LOOK fine. Your eyes are bloodshot and you're falling asleep."

"Oh, er... I'm just sleepy, I guess..."

Marshall sighed harder than ever. "Rocky, I know you've been sleeping badly. Your dreams are still hurting you, aren't they?"

Chase lifted his head, confused. "Hey, aren't we supposed to be taking care of you?"

Marshall decided to ignore that. "I gave you more nightmares last night, didn't I?"

A long pause ensued. Rocky really didn't want to make this about him, but Marshall wasn't leaving him much choice.

"...Yeah... because I was so worried about you... Last night I... I dreamed you... ran away again..." Rocky squeaked, beginning to cry again.

"Oh, Rocky..." Marshall leaned into him and licked his face. "I didn't mean to make things worse for you..."

Marshall felt awful. It was bad enough that Rocky dreamed about Marshall being taken away and turned against his friends, but now he was giving Rocky even more nightmares by acting the way he was.

"...Marshall, I'm supposed to be saying that..." Rocky said shakily. "Chase said what I wanted to, but we're worried about you here..."

"And I'M worried about YOU!" Marshall barked. "You can't expect me to feel better when you're like this! If I gave you nightmares, then you can help me feel better by letting me take care of you!"

Chase was stunned. He knew that Marshall always had a can-do attitude and wanted to help, but Marshall was an emotional wreck earlier. How could he possibly be focusing on how Rocky felt?

Marshall took a deep breath. "Look. I know the thought of a friend disappearing is really scary. But I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I'd never abandon you."

"Even after thinking we wanted you... you..." Rocky wavered.

"Don't lose your lunch here, Rocky. That's not gonna come out of my fur." Marshall flashed a cheeky grin, to the momentary amusement of Chase and Rocky. "You know, even though I was scared silly, the thought of running away never crossed my mind. It was a heck of a nightmare, but with everyone here proving it wrong... well, it's a little tough to think about, now." Marshall punctuated his words with a sniffle. But not one of sorrow or fear.

"I'm curious, though... I never got to ask, but why me?" Marshall asked. "Of all the pups here, why do you think you'd dream about me?"

"Because I love you!" Rocky immediately shot back. Marshall and Chase's eyes bugged out.

"Huh?!" they both yelled.

"You've always been so kind... you don't hesitate to help out... you're always happy to play with me... Heck, you've always been there for me when I'm feeling down!" Now Rocky was fully shedding tears. "You're a brother to me, you know?! Losing you would... w-would..."

Marshall had been totally thrown for a loop. He'd known Chase for long enough and grown close enough to him for them to form a brotherly relationship with each other. But did Rocky really feel as strongly about him as he did about Chase? Were they really so close as for Rocky to view Marshall as a younger brother?

Marshall thought that Rocky wouldn't have been a big fan of him considering how often he ended up drenching Rocky with his water cannons, but now everything Marshall thought he knew about his relationship with Rocky had been viciously flipped on its head.

Chase regretted being on the other side of the bed. He really wanted to give Rocky a hug, but couldn't quite reach him. Marshall sniffled and squeezed Rocky tightly.

"Rocky... look at me." Marshall said, trying his best to hold it together after that response. Not made any easier by the tearful expression Rocky was giving him. "I'm. Not. Leaving. I don't know how many more times I've got to say that. I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be than here. I know now that we all love each other too much to kick each other out. Because we're a family. Trying to lure me away from the Paw Patrol is just impossible. The end."

"...even if you got... t-taken away?" Rocky sobbed.

"If I got taken away, I know you'd all look for me. Plus, I'd do everything I could to get back safe and find the rest of you. This is my home, after all."

"B-but what if someone... c-convinced you to leave?"

"What did I just say? This is my home."

"But Humdinger convinced you in my dream!" Rocky yelled, distress growing further.

"Rocky. We've been over this." Marshall stared firmly into Rocky's terrified eyes. "What did I tell you a few days ago?"

* * *

 _Marshall struggled to catch his breath. The day was close to out and the wires of his mind were massively frayed. Ryder had taken Rocky away for a chat alone, which finally gave Marshall some time to himself. He couldn't stop thinking about what Rocky told him. About him getting complete amnesia and Humdinger somehow abducting him from the hospital. He wondered what on earth Humdinger could've told him to turn him against his family, before shuddering and forcing the thoughts from his head. Much though he sympathised with his friend, getting depressed along with him for the second time would almost certainly not help._

 _He wondered, though. Why him? Of all the pups Rocky could've had such a bad dream about, he ended up having one about him? Then again, he supposed he could've been replaced with any one of the other pups and it would've had the same effect. All the other pups had been to see him, and his spirits certainly seemed to inch slightly higher than before with each pup who lay with him and Marshall. Especially Chase, who'd talked his ear off at length about how Rocky was giving Humdinger too much credit, reminding him of a time where Humdinger totally humiliated himself without any of them even lifting a paw._

 _The events of the morning continued to play in Marshall's head. Rocky waking up with a bloodcurdling scream. Him launching himself at Marshall and bawling his head off. Rocky choking out the details of his nightmare through his tears. Marshall gulped hard. First Chase, now Rocky? At this rate, the whole Paw Patrol was going to be rendered too scared to get even a little shuteye. Not that Marshall really helped at the beginning. He'd scrubbed through all the medical texts he had and told Rocky in-depth about how if he had an accident that cost his memories, he'd be a vegetable before he could be brainwashed. All this resulted in was Rocky being reduced to howls of despair._

 _"You've had better ideas, Marshall..." he thought. "WAY better..."_

 _He tried to think of what he could do for Rocky next. They'd already been through a list._

 _'Humdinger is too dumb.'  
'Humdinger isn't that evil.'  
'It'd take more than Humdinger to break them up."  
'If they did lose Marshall, Humdinger would pay dearly.'_ _  
_ _'Marshall was clumsy, but too careful to take a major head wound.'_

 _None of it was very effective. Marshall couldn't rest at all. How could he with how Rocky was feeling? He only needed to picture the scene in his head and he knew full well that this was utterly traumatic for him. The fog in Marshall's mind cleared up immediately, however, when his Pup Tag went off._

 _"Hey, Marshall?" came Ryder's quiet voice. "Rocky's asked to see you again."_

 _Marshall sighed. He knew that any time to himself would be brief, but he didn't think it would be this brief._

 _"How's he doing?" Marshall asked.  
_

 _"Ehh... as well as he can..."_

 _"Alright... coming..."_

 _Marshall wearily dragged himself to his feet. Much though he wanted to take a break, Rocky still needed him. And as long as that was the case, he wouldn't stop for anything..._

 _"Ahhh-! OOF!"_

 _...except for perhaps his teddy, which he carelessly stepped on as he got up to leave his house, slipping and landing flat on his face._

 _"Good thing Rocky didn't see that..."_

 _Marshall arrived at Ryder's room and hopped through the dog door to see Rocky sat in Ryder's lap, face buried in Ryder's chest, with Ryder slowly rubbing Rocky's head. The curtains in the room were drawn against the sunset, the only light coming from Ryder's bedside lamp._

 _"Uh-oh." Marshall thought. "Has he been crying again?"_

 _"Oh, Marshall. Thanks for coming." Ryder kept his voice to a low whisper. He'd clearly spent some time trying to calm Rocky down after the pups took their turns to reassure him._

 _"It's not like I was gonna just leave him, you know." Marshall replied, hopping up onto the bed and walking towards Rocky. "Rocky, you doing OK?"_

 _The heart-crushing look that Rocky replied with served as a fairly obvious answer of "no". Rocky then turned away from Ryder and threw his arms around Marshall once more. Nothing he wasn't used to at this stage. The sniffles and hiccups from Rocky as Marshall returned the hug confirmed his fears._

 _"Shh... Rocky, it's OK... I'm here..." Marshall whispered.  
_

 _"Marshall... I-I'm... sorry..." Rocky choked.  
_

 _"Sorry? For what?"_

 _"...I've been... such a pain... for thinking... we'd lose you..."_

 _"Oh, Rocky, don't be silly. I think any of us would be out for the rest of the day if we dreamed about losing each other. In fact, one of us was." Marshall replied, his thoughts drifting back to Chase's dilemma.  
_

 _"...but everyone is telling me... that it wouldn't happen... and I... can't believe them... I keep thinking that... you could still... just... go..."_

 _Each successive word lowered in volume until Rocky's voice was nothing more than an incomprehensible squeak. First he was scared, now he was guilty? This was just like Chase last week. It hurt seeing him like that, and it hurt seeing Rocky like this. He seemed to be hearing everyone's words, but they all seemed to have practically no effect. Enough, Marshall thought, was enough._

 _"Rocky. Look at me." Marshall broke the hug and stared Rocky straight in the eyes. Rocky gave him an intimidated look, but Marshall was undeterred. It was time to go all-in._

 _"Listen close and listen good. I'm. Not. Going. Anywhere." Marshall said with an unusual degree of force to his voice. It's gonna take a lot more than me losing my memories to take me away from the Paw Patrol."_

 _"B-but..."_

 _"Say I did somehow lose my memories. Say I couldn't remember any of you. Think about it. I'm just as much a part of this family as you. You wouldn't just leave me. You'd be with me all the time."_

 _"I-I..."_

 _"None of you would let Humdinger get close to me if I wasn't feeling right. I know that. I'd never give up on any of you, and none of you would ever give up on me, right?" Marshall's expression shifted to a softer one.  
_

 _"Of course not! We'd never, ever let you-!" Rocky started to cry again.  
_

 _"Shhhh... Take it easy, OK?" Marshall whispered, pulling Rocky in and holding him tightly. "I could lose my memories, I could get lost, but you know what? Everything would turn out OK in the end. Because we're a family. In the end, I'd never abandon any of you, and you'd never abandon me. End of story."_

 _Rocky broke the hug and stared at him, eyes wide. It took a few seconds for him to fully take in all of Marshall's speech. As forceful as he was, Marshall's voice never changed from being consoling and quiet. He drew back in closer and hugged Marshall tighter than ever._

 _"Thanks, Marshall... I... I'm feeling a little better, now."_

 _Marshall's jaw dropped slightly. Deep down, he'd hoped to hear those words, but he didn't think he actually would. He smiled as he returned the hug._

 _"There you go... that's more like it..."_

 _"Marshall... I... think I might take a while... before I'm back up... that dream was... really scary..."_

 _"Hey, no hurry, pal."_

 _"Could I... stay with you for a little while longer? Just until I'm feeling better?"_

 _Marshall nuzzled Rocky in response. "Stay as long you need to, Rocky. I'll be right beside you. I promise."_

 _Rocky didn't reply. Instead he let out a deep breath of relief. And while Marshall couldn't see it, Rocky gave a wide, contented smile as Ryder watched on from the sidelines._

 _"Thank goodness... what a pair of good pups..." Ryder thought with a smile of his own._

* * *

 ** _Wow. Longest chapter yet. This is almost double the length of most of the previous chapters. Still, I guess fitting two pups talking to Marshall into one chapter will do that for you.  
_**


	9. The Sound of Sirens

"I know, I'm probably the last pup you want to hear that kind of thing from right now, but it's true. We all have each other's-"

Marshall was cut off by the soft sound of snoring. He hadn't quite noticed, Rocky having buried his face in Marshall's side mid-memory, but Rocky had crashed out and fallen asleep next to him with a small smile on his face. Marshall fought to suppress the urge to laugh, making do with the feeling of relief. Rocky looked so much more relaxed all of a sudden, thanks to Marshall's reminder of a couple of days back. Chase felt the same way. He exhaled deeply upon realising that maybe Rocky could finally calm down a little and get some sorely-needed rest.

"Hey, Marshall..." Chase whispered. "Can we take this somewhere else? Don't want to wake the baby."

Marshall giggled quietly. "Yeah, let's. Wanna go to my house?"

"Good idea."

The pair slowly and carefully slunk out of the bed, making sure not to disturb the sleeping mixed breed that now occupied it. Marshall concentrated, making sure his clumsiness wouldn't wake Rocky as he snuck out the door with Chase.

The two had passed by the others as they left the Lookout. Although they exchanged concerned glances, Chase had held up his paw to silently tell them that it wasn't the time. He needed space, still. It was easy to forget that Marshall had suffered a massive nightmare, given that he had far more of a spring in his step now. They reached Marshall's house and lay down together in it.

"I don't get you sometimes, Marshall." Chase began.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Marshall asked.

"I mean that it was our turn to try and take care of you, but then you go and flip the table on us and try to help Rocky instead. How can you be so scared of one of your own nightmares but then go and push it all aside and take care of Rocky like that?"

"C'mon, Rocky's been like this for days! I couldn't make it about me when he's still so shaken up! He looked like he was ready to collapse!"

Chase couldn't help but laugh. "Same old, same old. Never thinking about yourself..."

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm still thinking about my nightmares. But it's actually gotten tougher since you all started talking to me..." Marshall felt a lump forming in his throat "All of you telling me... how worried you were about me... how we've had so many good times together... how even thinking about hurting me like that made you all sick... that we'd never turn on each other like that..." Marshall started to weep slightly. "Little hard to be too scared right now..."

Chase smiled. "Aww, Marshall... Hope that shows you how dumb that dream was. Us attack you or, heck, anyone? That's just crazy!"

"Heh, you made that clear enough last night..."

Chase paused. Yep. Same old cheeky Marshall. He turned away and pouted. "...I said I was sorry..."

As Marshall laughed next to him, Chase simply couldn't stay mad. He was proud of Marshall for managing to make a turnaround like this. Not like him. And all of the pups had done great work in helping to bring him around, even though it got a little hairy with Rubble. The only one left was him. He'd made things worse last night. Now it was time to move things in the other direction, and he already had a happy memory in mind to talk about...

"Anyway... you mentioned that everyone's been talking about the good times we had together. Well, I've had one in mind all day..." Chase said, flashing a knowing grin. It only took a couple of seconds for Marshall to figure out what he was talking about and go wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

"...oh, NO..." he groaned, screwing his eyes shut and burying his face in his paws. Chase imagined that Marshall was probably turning as red as his fire truck underneath his fur.

"Aw, c'mon! It was funny!" Chase laughed.

"No it wasn't! Urgh, I'm getting embarrassed just thinking about it!" Marshall snarled, not looking up.

"Are you? Why's your tail wagging so much, then?"

Marshall looked back to notice his tail happily flailing back and forth behind him, running counter to the rest of him. He quickly buried his face deeper in his paws.

"We both looked like clowns, then, remember?" Chase continued, reining in his laughter for a few moments.

It was true in that Marshall wasn't the only one who made himself look like a fool that day. Try as he might not to, the memories he tried to suppress wormed their way back into his head.

* * *

 _Marshall had arrived back home earlier than everyone else. While he'd complained of feeling tired and wanting to go to bed at the Halloween Festival the Paw Patrol were attending, in truth, he wanted to mess around with something Alex had brought over for them. Earlier in the day, Alex had brought over a chest of costumes for them all to try on and play around with, and the Paw Patrol ended up going through so many of them that they only just decided on what they wanted to wear before they were due to head to the festival at all. Marshall in particular had so much fun that he wanted to have it to himself for a little while. To just goof around in his own little world. When was he going to get the chance to do it again?_

 _The yellow costume chest was right where they left it on the floor of the Lookout. Marshall felt giddy, wasting no time in running right towards it and throwing it open. As the mess of garments spilled out, Marshall stopped as a question ran through his head._

 _"What the heck am I going to choose?"_

 _Indeed, it was a question the rest of the Paw Patrol had asked themselves that day several times over, and one that some of them didn't even get to answer properly. Rubble went with a rhino costume, Skye decided on dressing up as a witch and Marshall himself chose to dress up as Apollo for the festival, leading to Rubble complaining that he didn't think of it. Chase, Rocky and Zuma weren't so lucky._

 _They ended up snatching up costumes at random, and although Chase got somewhat lucky with a knight costume, poor Rocky got saddled with a seahorse costume and Zuma ended up dressing up as Frankenstein's Monster. Neither of them were terribly happy. They'd never looked quite so sour before. Marshall giggled as he remembered the sight, before deciding to choose a costume at random. Almost everyone else did, after all. He only had further questions when he pulled out a large, purple top hat._

 _"Mwahahahahahahaha! I'm Mayor Humdinger! I HHHATE fun! Adventure Bay will be mine! Foggy Bottom will be supreme! AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"_

 _Marshall had to admit, cackling like a madman was actually very cleansing. No wonder they all did it._

 _"What's THIS?! An orphanage for PUPPIES?! How dare they shun my kitties so! It shall be MIIIINE!"_

 _Marshall thought that he was going a little far with the impersonation, but still, no-one else could hear him, or even see him. Who cares, right?_

 _"Hi-YA! Nothing to fear! Marshall the Magnificent will save the day! All will fall before my mighty kicks of steel!"_

 _A strange cross between a martial artist's uniform and a cyborg costume this time. Was this based off of anything? Was there an episode of Apollo he missed or something? Ah, well, it was one of the coolest costumes that he'd found yet. He just wished he'd dug deeper the first time. He would've gone as this!_

 _"Fret not, madam! I shall save your kitty from this tree with one big kick! Do not blink! Hiiiiii-YAAA!"_

 _"Grrr... aaaarrrgghhh! Raaaawwwrrggghh! RAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"_

 _Now Marshall was regretting his costume choice for the festival. He'd happened across a red dragon costume, of all things. How did he miss this?! He was thoroughly enjoying stomping around and roaring to the moon. So much so that he happened to miss a certain armor-wearing german shepherd stood in the door out of sight, watching mouth agape._

 _Chase couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was genuinely tired from the party and decided that he should probably get some shuteye before tomorrow. What he was expecting to find was Marshall fast asleep, only to hear roaring from the Lookout. The sight nearly made him burst out laughing then and there. He'd only wanted to go home to play with the costume chest! Marshall was clearly having the time of his life, and his joy was infectious. The urge to join in grew. After all, no-one had to know but them... right? Chase took a low stance as he slithered in to hide behind some furniture. He was thankful that was wearing such an appropriate costume for the occasion._

 _"Grrrrrr... ROOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!"_

 _"HARK, YOU SCALED FIEND!" Marshall's heart practically stopped along with the rest of him at hearing the familiar voice behind him._

 _"How dare thou theaten this peaceful village?! Leave now, lest I claim yon head!" Chase had a paw extended towards Marshall as if he was holding a sword._

 _"CHASE?! U-uhhh... This... i-isn't what it- looks... like!"_

 _"What is it, then?! All I'm seeing is a silly pup messing around with costumes!"_

 _Chase hadn't stopped grinning from the moment he sprang out and surprised his friend. Marshall could only find himself babbling like an idiot at being caught playing with the costumes. He felt like shrinking into his costume and dying then and there._

 _"Hey, don't be embarrassed! It looked like you were having fun! I was just hoping there was room for one more!" Chase giggled._

 _Marshall froze again. This time in confusion._

 _"Wh... wha-?" he stammered._

 _Chase had decided to ignore Marshall's embarrassed gibberish and dive into the costume chest himself. As he rummaged around, Marshall was in shock. Did Chase just say what Marshall thought he did? Chase always tried to uphold a professional attitude, but he was better at it some times more than others. It didn't stop him from goofing around with the rest of them, but this is the last sort of thing Marshall expected from the Paw Patrol's second-in-command._

 _"You're talking to the Bounty Hunter Dog now, punk. Hope you got enough prayers to say 'fore I let'cha have it."_

 _Chase came out dressed as a biker, speaking in as low and as gravelly a voice as he could muster, giving an exaggerated glare at the dragon-suited dalmatian. As Marshall took in what was going on, his embarrassment was replaced with glee, remembering that Chase wasn't made of stone, as much as he tried to make people think otherwise. He ran past Chase and dove into the costume chest himself._

 _"What an insolent pup we have before us!"_

 _Marshall had come out in a familiar-looking tiara and white wig._

 _"You dare accost ME?! The rightful heiress of Barkingburg?! You shall be thrown into the dungeon FOREVER!"_

 _Neither of them could keep it together through the ridiculous falsetto Marshall was putting on._

 _"Pffft... oh, well then, PRINCESS- hehehe...! Let's see how you... like THIS!" Chase dove laughing back into the costume chest._

* * *

Back in the present day, Marshall and Chase valiantly failed to stifle their snickering at the memory.

* * *

 _"FILTHY DOG SCUM. PRESENT YOUR LEADER OR BE EXTERMINATED."_

 _Chase had jumped back out as a robot, though the costume was so boxy that Chase was struggling to stay upright._

 _"YOU HAVE- whoa... TEN SECONDS TO COMPLY."_

 _He'd lifted a paw off the ground, aiming the costume's ray gun at Marshall._

 _"Tut, tut! Am I supposed to take orders from a FILTHY machine that can barely stand?! Ha ha! GUARDS!" Now it was Marshall's turn to see what he'd come out as._

* * *

The snickering from the pups had now turned into hysterical giggling.

* * *

 _"Thou hast dirtied the name of my fair queen with yon wickedness! Come forth and allow me to smite thee!"_

 _A wizard in purple robes had jumped out of the chest. The problem was that the costume was a little too big for him, and the hat drifted over his eyes._

 _"Ha HA! ZAP! BLAM! Whoa-! HA!" Marshall hopped around waving his paws at Chase, as if casting spells at him... or rather, he tried, since he couldn't actually see anything over the brim of the large hat, and so ended up pointing at the wall after he finished tripping over his robes._

 _"PATHETIC- hehehehe! YOU DOGS ARE NOT WORTHY OF- agh! MY TIME."_

 _Chase hopped back in the chest once more. Marshall pushed the brim of his hat away from his eyes._

 _"You shall not escape me that easily, machine!" Marshall yelled after him, joining him in the chest._

* * *

The hysterical giggling had now been replaced with full-blown belly laughs from the two.

* * *

 _"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You shall regret coming before me, MORTAL. I AM THE MOST POWERFUL PUP IN THE WOOOOOOOORLD!" Chase had come out in a ridiculous-looking supervillain costume, complete with an oversized, spiked collar and a pointed, purple crown with spikes about half the length of him._

 _"Y'all don't got a hint a' what 'power' is, slim! Y'ALL GOT TEN SECONDS TO GIT 'FORE I MAKE YA!" Marshall had, in turn, come out dressed as a cowboy. The hat fit him better this time, but the costume did nothing to improve the terrible accent he was putting on._

 _By this point, the pups were rolling with whatever they got when they came out of the chest, and they were loving every second of it. Any worries the two had about their throats being sore in the morning were buried deeply beneath the sheer fun they were having. As much as Chase prided himself on his professionalism, deep down he loved the moments where he could drop it and just focus on being a kid even more, especially around the pup he'd known the longest._

 _However, the yelling died in the pair's throats when they heard a large group laughing uproariously behind them. They turned around in horror to see that Ryder and the pups had arrived home earlier than they thought, and they'd come to see what all of the yelling was about. Suddenly, the cowboy and the evil overlord had a lot of explaining to do._


	10. Clearing the Fog

"OK, OK, CHASE, YOU WIN! I GET IT! THAT WAS HILARIOUS!"

While both pups had now gone into full-blown hysterical laughing fits over the memory they shared, Marshall was laughing far harder to the point of shedding tears and frantically slamming his paw on the floor. Chase's brain had shut down for laughing so hard as well. That memory never failed to make him laugh, but fully reminiscing on it with Marshall somehow made it way funnier. The sense of relief Chase felt in hearing Marshall laughing his head off didn't help. After seeing him so depressed and scared, hearing his old self come back felt like a massive weight had been lifted.

Marshall and Chase being paralysed by laughter rang out across the whole of the Lookout. Even Rocky woke up upon hearing it, and while he didn't get much in the way of sleep himself, his energy returned very quickly upon realising that Marshall was coming back to them. All four pups heaved a collective sigh of relief. After a long few hours of worry, things finally seemed like they were looking up.

The two had been reduced to coughing as they desperately tried to recover from the laugh they shared. Wheezing and gasping filled Marshall's house as they caught their breath, yet continued to giggle as they spoke.

"Good times, right?" Chase began.

"Heh... guess so..."

Chase hesitated before speaking again. "You know... I'm really happy you're coming back... I hate seeing my baby brother like that..."

Marshall froze up, briefly, before grabbing on to Chase and hugging him tightly. "Chase... I'm sorry I dreamed you'd do that to me..."

As embarrassed as he was to be called Chase's baby brother, the reminder of their fraternal bond hit hard. They were the first members of the Paw Patrol, after all, and Marshall was the first pup that Chase had the luxury of meeting when he came to Adventure Bay with Ryder. After so long together, it was only natural that they'd grow so close.

"What did I say back there, Marshall? It's not your fault." Chase whispered.

"Still... I know everyone has my back and I have theirs... but being called useless hurts, you know?" Marshall replied sadly. "I know it was only a dream, but..."

Chase groaned as he got a dose of reality. Marshall may have been feeling better, but the aftershocks of a dream like that were going to be tougher to shake off.

"Not done yet, then..." Chase thought. He broke the hug and stared Marshall in the eyes.

"Nobody's. Perfect." Chase told Marshall, frightening him slightly with the intense look he was giving him. "Not me. Not you. Not Ryder. Nobody. Nobody expects you to be perfect, either. I've said it before, we all have our flaws. And we each cover for them. That's why we're a team- no, a family."

Marshall continued to stare at Chase with eyes wide as the latter's stare softened.

"Look, you're acting like we've never made mistakes at all." Chase continued. "We know that you're clumsy, and we don't care. You've been clumsy for years. And we've had our flaws for years, too. You can't say that Rubble's the perfect pup when he charged ahead and got stuck in the tunnel, say. Heck, my allergies got me thrown in Barkingburg's dungeon! Does that make me the perfect pup?"

Marshall blinked. "But... you and-"

"No 'buts'. I'm a lot of things. A super spy. A cop. Even..." Chase paused. Even now, it still seemed a little too silly to be true. "...a Mer-Pup. But if there's one thing I'm NOT, it's 'perfect'. And nobody is. You aren't perfect. And we don't expect or want you to be."

Marshall felt himself welling up again. But not because he was upset. Because he was realising that he'd been working himself up over a dream that his friends were practically crawling over barbed wire to prove wrong.

"I... y-you... Ch-chase..." Marshall sniffled, looking at him with a small, tearful smile.

"Shhhhhhh... don't worry, Marshall... Your bro's here for you..." Chase whispered. The two embraced quietly as Marshall sniffled a little and quietly nuzzled Chase in gratitude.

The two had done nothing but lie in Marshall's house in each other's arms in total silence. How long had Chase been lying there with Marshall? Half an hour? Longer? Shorter? It didn't matter. As long as Marshall needed him, Chase swore to himself that he'd be there. And Marshall certainly needed him right now after Chase was forced to leave him partway through the day. Chase still cursed the awful timing. Of all the times for an emergency to come in, this had to be among the worst. Being summoned while he was in the bushes? In the middle of the night? While being given a bath? Nothing compared to this.

"Hey, pups... is this a bad time?" A familiar voice jolted Chase out of his thoughts. He'd somehow failed to notice Ryder's footsteps as he left the Lookout and moved to Marshall's house.

"Ryder!" Marshall cried. His face lit up and he sat up quickly. Ryder kneeled down and cupped Marshall's head in his hands.

"Well, someone's looking better!" Ryder said with a mixture of excitement and relief. "How've you been?"

"Getting there. The others really looked out for me."

"Yeah, they all told me just now. I was wondering, though. Why's Rocky in your bed?"

Marshall and Chase looked at each other before bursting into giggles and telling him what happened.

"Oh, you silly pup!" Ryder playfully scolded, reaching over and tickling Marshall's side.

"HEY! S-st-stop it! Kn-kn-kn-knock it off!" Marshall laughed helplessly, wriggling around in place. Chase smiled warmly at the sight.

"The others were meant to be looking out for you, not the other way around!" Ryder grinned down at Marshall. Not only had he made a turnaround, but he was still looking out for others despite being so depressed earlier on. Somehow, Ryder wasn't surprised that Marshall would do this.

"Was I... not supposed to...?" Marshall asked, worriedly. Ryder placed his hand back on the side of Marshall's head.

"Well, it wasn't the plan. I know Rocky seems really beat up over his own dreams, but you didn't have to turn it around like that..."

Marshall grinned widely. "Yeah. I didn't."

Ryder couldn't have been more proud. "Same old Marshall..." he thought.

He only wished he could've been there to help his pup through it, but it seems like he wasn't actually needed after all, as the rest of the Paw Patrol had clearly done such a good job. He made a mental note to reward them all somehow later on.

"What a good pup... Always putting others first..." He always trained his pups to put others above themselves, but he didn't think Marshall would take it this far. He moved his hands up and scratched Marshall behind both ears, causing him to freeze up and drop limply to the floor with an utterly dreamy expression on his face.

"So what's been happening here?" Ryder asked, placing his hands in his lap.

"Well... I... uh... I was just telling Chase earlier how useless that dream made me feel, actually..."

"Pfft! 'Useless' you say..." Ryder scoffed. Marshall's eyes widened in response to his owner not taking the suggestion seriously in the slightest.

"But I felt like... I was only dragging everyone down... Wondering if I was good for anything..."

"This from our fire pup?" Chase piped up. How do you think the team would do without you, hu-"

Chase quickly clasped his paw over his mouth. Without thinking, he'd brought up the very thing around Ryder he'd told himself he wouldn't last night. He barely had time to curse himself before Marshall responded.

"Maybe a little better..."

Ryder flinched back in shock, his smile evaporating in an instant. "Marshall! How could you say that?!" he yelled with an expression of abject horror.

"Well, I'm such a screw-up. I just fall off of stuff and need rescuing all the time... I'm kind of a burden..."

"No! That's wrong and you know it!" Ryder barked, his horror shifting to a rare look of anger, causing both pups to retreat to the back of Marshall's house in fright. "Every one of you pups has an important role to play, and you all have a place with me! Nothing's going to change that! How could the team be better off without you?!"

All it took was those four words to shatter Ryder's normal demeanor. The idea of losing a single pup made him feel utterly sick, to the point that Rocky recounting his own nightmare drove Ryder to tears along with him. What Ryder failed to notice until he stopped talking was the tearful look of terror that Marshall was giving him.

"R-Ryder, I-I'm sorry! P-please don't hate me!"

As he regained his temper, Ryder wondered if the feeling in his stomach was what it felt like to be stabbed. Marshall looked like he was finally over the hump, and now he was yelling at him? All of his pups had been working their tails off to bring him around and here he was smashing that hard work to pieces with nothing but an emotional knee-jerk. Ryder took a little while to respond as he swallowed back overwhelming guilt.

"Marshall, I couldn't hate you if I tried... I'm so sorry I yelled. But you know how much I love you pups. I don't want to think... about losing a single one of you..." Ryder whispered, himself trying his hardest not to cry.

Marshall had entirely forgotten how much each of them meant to Ryder. He was with Rocky when Ryder started crying over the thought of losing one of them, but this thought hadn't even crossed his mind for the past day or so. All he'd thought about in that moment was the furious, hateful Ryder from his dream. He felt guilt building in his stomach at upsetting his owner, and took a few steps towards Ryder.

"I- I'm so sorry-!" Marshall sobbed.

"Marshall, Chase, come here..." Ryder opened his arms, and Marshall and Chase wasted no time in running into them. The three embraced once more.

"Shhhh, it's OK, I've got you. Don't cry..." Ryder whispered. "Ugh, who am I trying to convince, here?" Ryder continued internally.

Chase had felt like crying himself as he got up and joined Marshall and Ryder in yet another group hug. He knew that Ryder loved them all dearly, but he didn't think that Ryder would outright lose his temper over the matter. And so abruptly, at that. He couldn't help but see the similarities to last night.

More time had passed. The other pups watched on from behind the walls of the Lookout, but none of them dared to step closer. None of them could believe what they were seeing. Not only did they rarely ever see Ryder get that upset, but they all felt distinctly disheartened at seeing that Marshall was still feeling useless despite their efforts. All they could do was pray that Ryder could set things right as they saw them all calm back down.

"What are we gonna do with you, huh?" Ryder sighed, smiling sadly down at the dalmatian. No reply. Marshall didn't even look up.

"I'm... such a bad pup..." Marshall whimpered.

"Huh?"

"Not once... did I think about... how you... y-you..."

"You're not a bad pup at all, Marshall. Actually, you're too caring sometimes. You're worrying too much about what other people are thinking of you. This silly nightmare? Thinking we'd be..." Ryder could barely bring himself to continue his sentence. "...b-better off... w-without you?" Ryder paused and took a long, slow breath. "I repeat: you're worrying too much. And don't get me started on this whole 'useless' thing..."

"W-well... what have I done for the team lately?" Marshall almost spat those words. Seeing how much this was eating away at his pup, Ryder trawled his mind for answers.

"Well, let's see, huh? For starters, we left you alone at the Lookout once, right? You got an emergency from Katie, and you could've come right to us. And what did you do? Used everyone's Pup Packs and got all those kittens back by yourself! Yeah, 'useless', right?"

All that greeted Ryder's retort was a quiet sigh. "Should've known that wasn't gonna be enough..." Ryder thought.

"Alright, that not enough for you? How about when the Sea Patroller got stolen by Sid? Who helped get it back? You did. I mean, yeah, you got pup-napped and all, but you managed to not only tell us what was going on, but free Robo-Dog and distract Sid and Arrby long enough for us to get it back and stop them from stealing the Sea Patrol vehicles! If it wasn't for you, we might've been too late!"

Still no reply. But still, no sounds that could be construed as sadness, either. "Alright, go big or go home..." Ryder thought.

"And what about just recently? Humdinger hijacked the Gigantasaur a couple of weeks ago!"

This one seemed to do the trick. Marshall slowly craned his neck upwards to meet his owner's gaze, his eyes wide, if still wet with tears.

"Let me ask you: Who was it who rescued Chickaletta? Who was it who put out the fires it was causing? And most importantly: Who was it that took charge? Who was it that led all you pups in stopping Gigantasaur's rampage? Who was it that helped everyone save the day?!"

Marshall stared at him, mouth agape. "Uhh..."

"I'll give you a hint, buddy. It wasn't me." Ryder smirked knowingly at Marshall, who turned to Chase.

"Heh, don't look at me." he giggled.

"Well? Who was it?" Ryder said.

"Uhh... I don't know..." Marshall replied haltingly.

"I guess... me?"

"That's right. It was you. Our little ball of energy. So with all that in mind, do you still think you're useless? Do you still think the team's better off without you?" Ryder asked soothingly.

Marshall had no idea how to reply to that. His friends hating him? He'd managed to write that off as silly not long ago. But the feeling of uselessness eating away at him was a lot harder to shake off. He'd just spent so long thinking that he was just a burden that day and here Ryder was throwing a huge amount of evidence to the contrary at him.

"I... guess... I'm not that bad?" Marshall whispered.

"Oh, come on, give it some more feeling than that!" Chase interjected.

"I'm... not that bad..." Marshall said, a little louder this time, his spirits slowly beginning to lift.

"Come on! More! You know you're a good pup, don't you?! Say that you are!" Ryder yelled, smiling widely.

"I... I'm a good pup!" Marshall felt a huge amount of energy building up inside him from his friends' encouragement. A huge grin began to spread across his face.

"Louder!" Chase yelled beside him.

Marshall couldn't hold it back any longer. "I'M A GOOD PUP! I'M A GOOD PUP!" he screamed at the top of his voice, his smile coming back in an instant.

"YOU ARE, MARSHALL! YOU ARE!" Chase screamed back, followed by a joyful howl from the pair of them.

"THAT'S IT, GUYS! THAT'S IT!" Ryder joined them in yelling as loudly as he could before he hugged them both tightly, all three of them laughing uproariously.


	11. The Sun Shines

"There you go... that's better, isn't it?" Ryder said gently after about a minute of catching his breath.

"Yeah, who'dve thought that yelling like that would feel so good?" Chase said with a smile.

"Oh, I don't know..." Marshall replied with a knowing smirk directed at Chase, both pups snickering at the memories of their little costume party. "Ryder, sir... Thank you so much for being here for me..."

"That's what I'm here for, Marshall. As long as I'm your owner, I'll be here for all of you pups. It's my responsibility to take care of you all, you know."

"Even when one of them is being such a handful?"

"ESPECIALLY when one of them is being such a handful. Like that little episode with the ice cream. Remember that I've been taking care of you since you were a tiny puppy."

"Guess now it's Ryder's turn..." Marshall thought to himself, casting his mind back one more time.

* * *

 _"Marshall, for the last time, it's time for bed!"_

 _Ryder was utterly exasperated. How could one pup have so much energy for one night? The rest of the pups had finally turned in for the night, ready for the next day. Not Marshall. He was usually full of beans, but tonight of all nights he was completely hyper. Ryder had decided to give the pups some dog ice cream that Mr. Porter had gotten in that day as a dessert treat for the hard work they'd put in on that day's rescue, but ended up giving them all three scoops each._

 _Ryder had sorely underestimated how much energy it would give them. Zuma was breaching the sea like a dolphin for hours, Chase had turned jittery and paranoid and Rocky was talking at a rate of what had to be fifty words a second nonstop for the rest of the day. It was a nightmare in and of itself trying to calm them all before bed. It was easier with some than others, and Marshall proved to be the most difficult one of all. As much as he kept slipping and crashing into everything, he couldn't and wouldn't stop running around crazily, moving at what had to be twice his usual speed._

 _"I swear... Marshall! This is... the last time... you... ugh-!"_

 _Ryder had never been so exhausted in all his life. Running through snowy tundra? Nothing compared to this. Ryder had practically done a triathlon's worth of exercise in the past couple of hours, and Marshall was really giving him a run for his money._

 _"Can'tcatchmeRydersir!" Marshall barked in under a second as he tore around the corner._

 _Ryder flopped to the ground. Is this what chasing the gingerbread man was like? It's bad enough that he'd left pawprints all over the walls, but the others would never get to sleep until he caught Marshall and calmed him down. He managed to tire out the other pups enough to get them to sleep by exercising with them and chasing them around, but Marshall seemed to have enough energy to power Adventure Bay for a fortnight._

 _"This isn't going to work..." he groaned, desperately trying to think of an alternative plan._

 _He'd tried waiting until Marshall tripped up, but he couldn't reach him before he recovered. He was just too fast. That's when it hit him. All this time he'd been chasing Marshall around. Maybe he'd simply let Marshall come to him._

 _Marshall continued to run circles around the Lookout, much to the chagrin of the other, more tired pups. He was certain that he'd managed to stop Ryder from chasing him and now he could run to his heart's content. Barely anything was going through his head that wasn't adrenaline at this point. He tore through the Lookout once again, until something caught his eye: a box of treats lying completely unattended inside the elevator._

 _Normally, Marshall would wonder if someone lost it. But with his brain going at the speed of light, he only saw free food. With nary a coherent thought in his head, Marshall charged towards it, ignorant of Ryder hiding around the corner of the doorway._

 _Ryder waited until Marshall was pawing at the box, trying to get at the nonexistent contents, before sneaking towards him as fast as possible._

 _"Heywhatgives?!" Marshall barked, upon realising the box was empty. "Whatkindasicktrickisthis?!"_

 _"YAAAGH!" Ryder yelled a war cry as he leapt at Marshall and grabbed onto him._

 _"AMBUSH!" Marshall screamed, frantically thrashing around as his owner tried to secure a hold on the hyperactive dalmatian._

 _"Rrgh! Gotcha... now!" Ryder grunted, having finally managed to grab his pup, arms firmly locked around Marshall's midsection._

 _"Aargh! No! Leggoleggoleggoleggoleggoleggo!" Marshall babbled._

 _"Oh no you don't! It's time... ugh-! For bed!"_

 _"Nonononononononono! I'mnottiredsleepisforlosers!"_

 _As annoyed as Ryder was at this, he couldn't help but see the funny side of it. If only this didn't happen so close to bedtime, he might've enjoyed his pups having so energy. But now, Marshall was proving to be trying his patience. A painful lesson in the fine art of administering acceptable quantities of canine-friendly ice cream, to be sure._

 _"One way... or another... you're going to sleep, Marshall!"_

 _"HowcanyousaythatwhentheressomuchrunningtodoIcouldgoallnightlemmegoalready!"_

 _"Agh...!" Ryder's grip slipped slightly as he tried to hold on the thrashing pup._

 _"OK, Marshall, you asked for it!" Ryder's face shifted into a truly evil grin. Continuing to hold Marshall in a tight hug, he quickly dug all of his fingers into Marshall's belly and started to tickle him into submission._

 _Holding on to Marshall proved even more difficult for a time, not least because of the loud shriek he emitted as he felt his belly being tickled. Marshall was extremely ticklish, to the point that so much as giving him a bath tended to result in giggle fits the entire way through. And Ryder's method of trying to tire him out resulted in him thrashing and wriggling around even more._

 _"STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP!" Marshall shrieked through his hysterical laughter as he tried to get away from the ticklish onslaught attacking his belly._

 _"You've been a naughty pup, Marshall!" Ryder snarled in his best monster voice. "Now you face the wrath of the Tickle Beast!"_

 _"N-NOOOOOOOO!"_

 _Ryder strained to hold on to Marshall for the next couple of minutes as his raucous laughter filled the Lookout. But eventually, Marshall's struggling started to slow, allowing Ryder to start shifting the focus onto his sides._

 _"I have you now!" Ryder playfully growled._

 _"P-PLEASE- N-NO-NO-NO MORE!" Marshall squealed._

 _"The Tickle Beast demands sacrifice, young pup!" Ryder replied, trying to sound as threatening as he could._

 _Ryder couldn't deny he was having fun. It was just like old times when he used to do this for Marshall and Chase when they were little. Whereas all Marshall was thinking about in his hyperactive state of mind was getting away. Soon, however, it proved to be for naught, as Marshall went slack in Ryder's arms as he continued to laugh his head off, his energy mostly depleted, allowing Ryder to lay him on his back and start tickling him all over._

 _"You have made the Tickle Beast angry for the last time!" Ryder growled. "You must be punished, little pup!"_

 _Marshall was a mess. His hyperactive energy had been almost completely spent from having the stuffing tickled out of him and now his face was stained with tears of laughter. He thought he was going to explode._

 _"So still think you won't sleep, huh, Marshall?" Ryder teased in his normal voice, still grinning widely. "Still think you could go all night?"_

 _"PLEEEEEAAASE-! I-I GIVE... I GIVE UP!" Marshall pleaded as his laughter got weaker._

 _He wasn't even putting up a fight at this point, he could only lie there and take it, with no energy left to resist. Soon his laughter started to fade, and thinking that the lesson had been learned, Ryder stopped tickling Marshall, only to exhaustedly flop to the floor after a couple of seconds, pulling the newly-fatigued pup into his arms._

 _"Had... enough... you little... rascal?" Ryder wheezed._

 _"Ugh... ugh... ighlaschubinoguuhh..." Marshall replied exhaustedly._

 _Ryder couldn't keep from laughing himself. Looks like Marshall's brain just fried from all the excitement. Of course, Ryder's entire body had fried from chasing him around so much, and he was ready for some sleep of his own._

 _"Marshall... you are... such... a... hand...ful..." Ryder slurred as his eyes drifted closed and he fell asleep from exhaustion._

 _"Heyahh... Rihjwohguvzoh..." Marshall panted as he found himself snuggling close to his owner and following suit, the two of them fast asleep on the elevator floor._

* * *

Marshall had his eyes closed and had a huge, beaming smile on his face as he recalled the happy memories.

"I was really sore when I woke up that day, you little stinker..." Ryder said, grinning down at Marshall.

"Guess that's why we haven't had that ice cream again, huh?" Chase added, smiling himself.

"Yeah... Yeah, I guess so..." Marshall whispered with his head still in the past.

At this point, Ryder finally pointed to the hidden pups behind the wall and gestured to beckon them forward. Startled, but relieved that Marshall seemed happier, Rubble, Skye, Zuma and Rocky all sauntered forwards, standing around Ryder as he kneeled down with Marshall and Chase in his arms.

"Marshall. I hope this goes to show you how wrong that nightmare was. As I said last night, it was nothing but a bad dream. Not one of us think you're useless or annoying. Not me or any of the pups would ever dare to hurt you. We're all family. We have our spats and arguments, but don't ever forget: We all love each other to bits. That includes you." Ryder said, comfortingly placing a hand on Marshall's head and slowly petting him.

"Just look at everyone here. Everyone couldn't believe it when they heard about your dream. Everyone wanted to make sure you were OK. And most important? Everyone here treasures you as much you treasure them." Ryder went on.

With a gesture towards Rubble, Skye, Zuma and Rocky, Marshall looked around behind him. Cries of what a good friend he was, how they'd never dream of hurting him and how the team wouldn't be the same without him erupted from the four.

Marshall was in disbelief. Just last night he dreamed of the ones he loved most hating him and tearing him to pieces. And now those same friends had just effectively gone around the world and back to prove that dream and all of its hurtful words wrong. They'd all just spent the entire day telling him how much they loved him and how important to the team he was.

Despite how scared he was of them and what they thought of him, they all stood by him in spite of everything and assured him that they always would do. These thoughts quickly turned to emotions, which filled Marshall's head rapidly as he tried to stifle a total breakdown.

"R-Ryder... sir... I- you... all-!" Marshall sobbed, obviously on the verge of the floodgates breaking completely.

"Oh, Marshall... don't hold it back, now... it's OK to cry..."

Marshall didn't need any more encouragement than that. The floodgates didn't so much open as they did violently detonate. After a second, Marshall let out an ear-splitting wail of joy and buried his face into Ryder's chest, crying harder than he ever had in his life. But this time, it was different. After his friends proved that they would never harm him or even dream of casting him out, and showed him just how crucial to the team he was, he was so overwhelmingly happy that he simply didn't have any other way of expressing himself than hysterically bawling into Ryder's chest. Throughout it all, the massive tearful smile on his face didn't wane once.

Ryder found Marshall's sobbing to be contagious. As much as he tried, he simply couldn't stop himself from crying in relief as he tightly hugged his beloved pups. Chase had fought valiantly to keep himself from following suit, but the situation proved too much as the the tears started to flow for him as well. Tears of ecstasy and relief from seeing Marshall so happy after the past few hours of seeing him as a shell of himself.

Then the dominoes fell, as Rubble, Skye, Zuma and Rocky swiftly burst into joyful tears along with him. Seeing the rest of the pups in tears, Ryder looked towards them and extended one of his arms to invite them into the group hug. Wasting no time, all four of them ran in and embraced Marshall, Ryder, Chase and each other as Ryder wrapped his arms around them all.

As the entire Paw Patrol shared a tearful embrace and listened to Marshall's overjoyed crying, the same thought went through their heads. And the thought itself was the most welcome one they'd had in a long time.

Their friend was going to be alright.

* * *

 _ **And that's Chapter 11. That seemed a lot like the finale, right? Well, not exactly. There are still four more chapters of this to go. Nearly done, but not quite yet. Obviously I don't want to talk about what the last four chapters will entail, but they'll still be coming at the same rate they always have been. Thanks for listening, and I'll be back tomorrow. Goodnight.**_

* * *

 _ **ADDENDUM:**_

 _ **It seems like there was some weirdness with the update for this one. I noticed that the fic hadn't been pushed to the top of the Paw Patrol category when I updated it, but then I got a confused PM from chase the new pup (thanks, dude!) asking why I hadn't updated today. I had, but I got the impression that people hadn't been notified. So if you've ended up with two notifications about this chapter, that's down to the "just in case" update I performed. Still, it's gone up to the top now, so I have confidence that it's been updated now. My apologies. Please don't think I broke my "one a day" committment, because I really didn't.**_


	12. A Debt to be Repaid

The evening. After crying his heart out for what must have been at least half an hour, Marshall had passed out from exhaustion, leading Ryder to tuck him back into bed, as he looked more peaceful than he had all day. After he'd woken up, he'd simply been lying quietly in bed for the rest of the day, even as Skye, Rubble and Zuma came to watch TV themselves. Chase, however, spent most of the day taking care of the sleep-deprived Rocky. While Marshall himself hadn't moved, his mind was far away. He wasn't staring at the TV screen. He was staring right through it.

While he still cringed every time scenes from his nightmare flashed through his head, he was certainly feeling much better. More than anything, his thoughts focused on the others. He was more grateful than anything that they helped pick him up from the proverbial dark hole he'd dug himself into and proved that his nightmare wasn't true at all, but then, that was exactly it. How could he possibly return the favour to them? He'd thought of doing something nice for them all, but the big question was: 'what?'.

They'd probably say that they didn't want anything from him other than to 'keep being their Marshall', but this just made him feel more determined to pay them back somehow. Above all, there were two pups that he was thinking of: Rocky and Chase. They were the most worried of them all about him, and not only was they both still reeling from their own bad dreams, they both actually resisted being called out for an emergency for him. With friends who'd do something like that for you, what could you possibly do for them?

The mire of thoughts in his head was abruptly dispelled by a sudden face-lick.

"AAAAGH!" screamed Marshall.

"AAAAGH!" screamed the tongue's owner.

"AAAAGH!" screamed Zuma, Skye and Rubble.

Marshall jumped at least a foot and a half out of the bed before regaining his footing in reality.

"Dang it, Chase, don't scare me like that! You're gonna give a heart attack!" Marshall said, his heart revving like a racecar.

"Hey, you were off in space! Everything I said to you didn't get an answer!" Chase replied with his ears flattened.

Marshall felt the blood rush to his face as he took some deep breaths. "Ah... erm, sorry... you wanted something?" he squeaked.

The remaining pups simply giggled. Much to their relief, the old Marshall was returning.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing. You seem a little better, but you've still been really quiet." Chase said.

"Well..." Marshall began. Despite the fact he wanted to keep things a surprise, he was a terrible liar. He may as well come clean. "I want to make it up to you guys. You were all so nice to me... and you were all so worried... I want to give something back. But I have no idea what to do..."

"Oh, Marshall, don't be silly! Why would you need to repay us?" Skye said.

"Skye's wight, dude." Zuma said. "We saw our bwo get shaken up from a whopper of a nightmare. What's to pay back?!"

"The fact that you're feeling better is enough, man." Rubble continued. "You're thinking too much into it."

Marshall internally rolled his eyes. He knew he'd get that reaction. Trying to debate the point would go nowhere.

"There you go." Chase said. "If you really want to make us happy, you'll keep being you."

Marshall couldn't help but fire back in his head. "Yeah, and Marshall wants to be Marshall by paying you back."

Still, it wasn't worth arguing over, so his reply was a quiet "Yeah... I-I guess you're right."

Chase furrowed his eyebrows. "You sure? You just hesitated."

Ack! He just saw right through him!

"Chase, you sure questioning him like that is going to help him?" Skye asked.

Chase's eyebrows drooped, and he quickly backed off. "Oh... I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that." he backtracked.

Marshall licked him back in response. "Nah, it's fine. No harm done." he replied.

As Marshall finished speaking, Rocky showed up, looking far better and dragging a pair of Pup Pup Boogie mats behind him.

"Hey, guysh! Readhy tcho phlay?" he asked around the mats.

The chorus of excitement from the other pups served as his answer.

Marshall smiled. "Way to go, Chase!" he thought.

They hurriedly cleared the area around the TV as Rocky set up the mats. Marshall, however, remained quiet.

"Guess my plans will have to wait." he thought. "Oh, I know! I could ask Ryder later!"

Once more however, his thoughts were cut off. "Oh, hey, Marshall! Quick game?" Rocky asked, noticing that he looked much better.

"Aw, whatever. Better take Chase's advice for now." Marshall thought.

"Alright, why not?" Marshall replied. "But fair warning, you know how it goes with me."

The other pups giggled again, as they crowded around the area and Marshall and Rocky prepared for another dance-off.

"Marshall..."

It only could've gone one way. As the pups got into their game, Marshall went into a tailspin and flew out of control, bowling over everyone present and having Rubble laid out on top of him. Straining under Rubble's bulk, he mustered a glib shrug and smile.

"I warned ya."

The others burst out laughing. Marshall couldn't help but laugh along with them.

"Just like that, he's back!" Rubble said happily, nuzzling the dalmatian underneath him.

Marshall was quick to return the favour. "Yeah... thanks to you." he replied. "Really, I can't thank you all enough for what you all did for me."

The other pups paused for a little while. Marshall struggled to see them, but from what he could see, the others were smiling. Relieved that they'd manage to help quell his sadness.

"Actually, Mawshall, we should be thanking you." Zuma piped up.

"Huh? W-why?" a confused Marshall replied.

"Because you let us in. You let us take care of you." Zuma beamed.

Now it was Marshall's turn to fall quiet. "And they keep expecting me to not pay them back somehow..." he thought, not noticing himself tear up again.

With a sniff, he struggled to wipe his eyes with Rubble pinning him down.

"Darn it, Zuma, don't make me cry again! I don't have anything left!" he grinned back.

The pups giggled again. The next thing Marshall saw was Chase standing next to him, who nuzzled him again.

"Good to have you back, Marshall." he said.

Marshall returned the favour. "Good to be back, Chase." he replied.

Suddenly, a laugh came from the door to the Lookout.

"Back to our old self, huh?"

Ryder had come to the door carrying some cans of dog food in a bag, only to see a mess of knocked-down pups scattered across the floor.

As the night came, Marshall had decided to go and see Ryder, as he planned earlier. He had to brainstorm with someone, and clearly the other pups weren't going to help very much. He went up the elevator, wondering how Ryder would react to his suggestion. He thought long and hard on what he wanted to say as he got closer to Ryder's room. He only hoped that Ryder wouldn't shoot it down. He arrived at Ryder's room and knocked on the door with his front paws.

"Ryder, sir? It's Marshall. Can I come in?" Marshall called through the door.

"Ah, Marshall, good timing! Come on in." Ryder replied.

Marshall slunk through the dog door to see Ryder sitting on his bed playing a sidescroller on his Pup Pad.

"How are you feeling?" Ryder asked.

"Much better. Thanks a lot." Marshall replied, hopping up on Ryder's bed. "Though there's something I want to talk to you about. About the others."

Ryder grew concerned. His beloved fire pup had been through an awful lot lately, and he only hoped that he wasn't relapsing in some way.

"Really?" he said, worriedly. "Is everything OK?"

"Ugh, nice, way to put your paw in your mouth..." Marshall thought.

"Yeah! Yeah! Everything's great! Better than they've been for me in a long time!" he hastily reassured his owner. "But... that's just it." he continued, slowing back down. "Everyone proved that dumb old nightmare to be just that... ugh..." Marshall cringed again at the thought, prompting Ryder to quickly reach over and stroke his back. "...and they all worried themselves sick over me... Chase and Rocky especially. Everyone did so much for me in one day... you included."

"C'mon, Marshall. That's what a family's for, isn't it?" Ryder asked.

"So I hear." Marshall retorted. "But I feel like I owe everyone. They all helped me out when I was scared that nobody liked me. They all proved my... ugh... nightmare wrong. So I really wanna do something nice for them. Do more than just be me."

Ryder giggled a little. "Silly pup. They won't want anything from you other than you feeling better. And it looks like you're giving them what they want." Ryder smiled reassuringly at Marshall. Marshall couldn't help but return it. Just like last night, he still had a way of calming his pups down. Not that this deterred Marshall from his thoughts.

"Well, Ryder, look at it this way. Chase and Rocky are still scared from their nightmares, right? We all helped them out, too, but they're obviously still hurting."

"...I won't argue with you there."

"So whose to say I won't be struggling to sleep for the next couple of days, too? I've been thinking. They all made me feel better by telling me about all the good times we had, right? Remembering all the fun we had? All the times they stood by me? It felt good. Really good. So if it had that effect on me, if we made some more happy memories, don't you think it'd help them feel better, too? They helped me, so the least I could do is help them."

Ryder was about to counter, but then paused. Marshall actually had a very good point. They'd been struggling to get over their night terrors for the past few nights, and it had been a while since the whole group had really cut loose and made merry for a day or two.

"On top of that..." Marshall continued. "Isn't it unfair if we only did this for two pups? I mean, yeah, Chase and Rocky could be cured then and there, but poor Rubble, Skye and Zuma would get left would that make them feel? Not to mention you."

Ryder was impressed how convincing Marshall was in this case.

"Hmm... I take that back, Marshall! That's a great idea!" he said, proudly.

"Really?! Ugh, glad SOMEONE thinks so!" Marshall replied with a big grin.

Ryder laughed in response. "Barely thinking about yourself again. You're such a good pup!" he said, rubbing Marshall's belly, who rolled over onto his back and went limp with bliss.

A minute later, Marshall rolled onto his front again.

"So Marshall. What did you have in mind?" Ryder asked.

"Ahh... well, that's the thing." Marshall replied, shying away a little. "I... don't actually know yet. I was racking my brain down there trying to think of something, but couldn't come up with anything. I only figured that I could do something for Chase and Rocky by itself only recently. I was hoping I could talk to you for some ideas."

"Oh, you want to brainstorm, huh? Actually, I'm happy you came to me for that. No idea is too foggy; no pup is too small!" Ryder triumphantly declared, much to Marshall's amusement.

"I'm fired up, Ryder, sir!" Marshall barked back, giggling.

An hour passed. There was much talking, along with awkward silence as the pair paced around the room, plumbing the depths of their imaginations. Eventually, though, they came to an agreement, leading to a handshake between the pair of them. Marshall was practically glowing. The feeling of him coming up with a grand plan, he had to admit, felt good.

"I could get used to this, Ryder." Marshall said.

"Uh-oh, I hope you're not turning into an evil genius, now." Ryder teased, eliciting another laugh from the pup, along with a yawn.

"Tired, huh?" Ryder asked.

Marshall hated to admit it, but he'd had such a day that his brain had basically been used up. He'd only noticed after he finished planning with Ryder.

"Yeah, actually... hey, wait. You said that I had good timing earlier. Why's that?" Marshall asked.

"Because I wanted to talk to you about tonight. I've been thinking about what you and Chase said. About Rocky. Obviously, his dream is still causing him a lot of pain." Ryder replied with a frown, eliciting a sympathetic whine from the dalmatian.

"The same goes for Chase, but you know how he is." Ryder went on.

"He is a stubborn one..."

"So here's what I was thinking. You all tried to make each other feel better, right? It sounds like you all spent the most time together."

"Well, of course! We couldn't just let each other suffer!"

"So I thought it best if you all slept at the Lookout together tonight. You've all had those horrible dreams, but you were there for one another through it all. And I've seen how worried you all are about each other. So how about you all watch over one another tonight? If the nightmares come back, then you have each other to talk to right there. If anything seems out of control, then you come right up and see me, OK?"

Marshall took in what Ryder just said. Ordinarily, a sleepover would be a special occasion. A fun time spent messing around before bed. But this time, it was specifically so that they could keep an eye on one another.

"Do the others know?" Marshall asked.

"I actually talked to them earlier. They loved the idea." Ryder replied. "What about you?"

Marshall thought for a while. Did they only want to keep an eye on him? Or were they all as concerned about each other? Marshall hoped for the latter. He wasn't the only one who needed looking after, here.

"Sounds good to me!" Marshall grinned toothily.

* * *

 _ **I've come to the conclusion that 's update system is kinda junk. This marks the third time that I've updated this now, but the fic hasn't moved to the top of the category (and I assume not sent any notifications either). PupPupGo, if you're reading this, I think you're right in how the site works. At least now I know the disadvantage of updating too frequently on here, I guess.  
**_


	13. Fighting Back

_**Before I start on this chapter, an update. I know I usually put these at the bottom of the page, but I felt like it was kind of important here. I'm very sorry about seeming not to update yesterday, but the way this site updates seems to have messed me up somewhere along the line. If it seems like I didn't update yesterday... well, I did. There IS a Chapter 12, so if you haven't read that, then PLEASE read that first, since it leads directly into Chapter 13. If it seems like I missed a day's update, well, I'm very sorry.**_

 _ **With that out of the way, on with the show:**_

* * *

"Gah-! ...argh..."

The nightmare again. As hard as Rocky tried, he hadn't slept soundly for days. The thought of a dear friend not even remembering who you are, then being taken away and turned against you with zero remorse was something that left deep mental scars for him. Even though that same friend has been by your side again and again for the past couple of days reassuring you that that would never happen, the dream struck far too close to home for him.

Rocky sighed. On the surface, everything looked alright with him and the other pups. But these kinds of dreams were the kind to stick with you for a long time. As the subject crossed his mind, he wondered if Marshall and Chase were having any more luck than he was with sleeping.

He looked over at Chase, who was definitely asleep, though he didn't look very peaceful. Usually, Chase looked as relaxed in his sleep as anyone else. Here, he looked ready to spring into action at any given moment. Rocky had the feeling that he'd been like this for a while now. As he moved over to Marshall's bed, however, his heart sank.

"R-Rocky... no... please don't go..."

Marshall looked seriously distressed. He was tossing and turning in his sleep along with the sleep-talking, with his teddy having been thrown from the bed by accident. Whatever he was dreaming about, it can't have been anything good.

"Oh, don't tell me that he's having nightmares about me now..." Rocky thought to himself.

"Y-you can't... can't... take him... I... won't... let you... kill... him..." Marshall's mumbling continued.

"KILL?!" Rocky thought. "Alright, enough is enough!"

Rocky reached over and started shaking Marshall. "Marshall, you're having a nightmare again! Wake up!" Rocky hissed to him.

"Urgh... no! I won't... let you!" Marshall continued, thrashing around further.

"MARSHALL! WAKE UP!" Rocky found himself yelling, shaking his friend harder.

"AGH!" Marshall woke with a start, breathing heavily. Dazed, he looked around with wide eyes before registering the mixed breed standing in front of him.

"R-Rocky? You're... alive?" Marshall asked fearfully.

Rocky moved closer and laid down in Marshall's bed, hugging him. "Shhhh... Marshall, it's OK... I'm safe... we're both safe..."

Marshall was quick to return the hug, clinging to a friend in terror for the second night in a row.

Marshall, for the second night, found himself shedding nightmare-induced tears. Only this time, the subject of the nightmare was right there with him, attempting to banish the fear before it could take root. Unbeknownst to them both, Chase had jolted awake from Rocky's frantic call to his friend.

"Marshall?! Oh, no... Not again!" Chase practically teleported over to Marshall's bed and began to rub his head. "Marshall, it's OK... we're here, buddy..." Chase whispered.

Marshall momentarily cried a little harder as Chase moved in, but having two friends to dispel the night terrors mercifully calmed him down in a matter of minutes.

After another two minutes of Rocky and Marshall lying there quietly in a heap, Rocky finally spoke.

"Marshall... are you OK? What did you dream about?" he whispered.

Marshall moved in closer to him. "I... I'm fine, Rocky. Thanks so much for waking me." Marshall replied.

His voice was a little shaky, but nowhere near as bad as the night before. He nervously looked at Chase.

"Don't be shy, Marshall. We're here for you." he said reassuringly.

Marshall thought to himself. "I guess this is why we're all here. Besides... Rocky's perfectly fine. Nothing to fear..."

He took a deep breath. "Alright... I'll tell you." Marshall whispered. "Rocky... this time, it was my turn to dream about you."

"Yeah, you said." Rocky gave a small smile.

"Oh... was I talking in my sleep?" Marshall looked away, embarrassed.

"If it helps, it didn't wake me up." Chase joked.

Marshall chuckled a little. "Anyway... Rocky... my dream..." He swallowed. The dream was still a little hard to digest for him. "...you got... executed."

Rocky paused. This nightmare wasn't quite as hard-hitting as Marshall's last one, but he still found himself caught off-guard. "Me? Executed?"

"...yeah... everyone was there... I don't know what you did... but everyone was screaming for you..." The last sentence caused Marshall to tear up again slightly.

"I mean, I know it's only a dream... but the thought of me doing something that'd get me executed... Uurrrrrp-!"

Rocky felt very ill indeed. As before, the mere thought of him carrying out that kind of atrocity really made him feel queasy. As Rocky fought to keep his food down, Marshall whined.

"Guh... ugh... sorry..." Rocky panted.

Chase laughed slightly. "I think that reaction tells you why that's impossible." he smiled.

"Heh... he's right, you know." Rocky said. "There is no way that dream could in any way be real. Nope. No. Nuh-uh.".

"But it seemed... pretty real..." Marshall said, hesitantly. "Everyone was crying... We were stuck behind glass, and we saw you smiling as the switch was about to be thrown..."

"Sounds like me, alright." Rocky grinned.

"Hold on, I'm not done." Marshall quickly said. "I remember... the glass cracking as I banged on it... It... looked like we could save you..."

Chase and Rocky both paused and looked at each other. A note of hope? Could it be?

"Marshall, do you remember anything else?" Chase asked. "Well... I know you were there, Chase. You were attacking the glass with me. You helped me shatter it and jump through. I ran towards the guard with the switch... and that's when Rocky woke me." Marshall explained.

Chase and Rocky shared another look.

"It sounds like you're improving to me." Chase said. "If you were still feeling bad, then in your dream, Rocky would probably-"

"Chase!" Rocky snapped, shooting a glare at him. "That's not gonna help him!" Chase clammed up immediately.

"But he's right." Marshall said. "I probably would've felt that dream a lot more if I hadn't been cheered up by all of you today or if we were in our own beds tonight."

Smiles spread across the faces of the other two pups.

"Wish I'd thought of this!" Rocky thought.

"What about you two?" Marshall asked. "Did you two have any bad dreams tonight?".

That question quickly wiped the smiles off their faces. Chase in particular glanced away from Marshall and stared at his paws.

"Guess I'll start us off then, huh?" Rocky said. "I had almost the same dream as before, Marshall. But it was a little different. You actually ran away this time instead of losing your memory in an accident."

Marshall whined. "Just like when I did that some time ago... is that when Humdinger got me?" he asked, squeezing Rocky tighter.

Rocky gulped, returning the squeeze. "Yeah, it was... mostly the same... but instead of us getting split up... we kept in touch outside Adventure Bay. We came back together... but it was to get you back more than anything, Marshall."

Marshall stared at Rocky briefly. "Huh?"

"I ended up waking up not long after. But I remember us bursting into the mayor's office. You tried to stop us with Humdinger... but I remember you hesitating a lot... and you called out to us by name." Rocky went on.

Marshall started to tear up again. But for a different reason. This time, it was because of the reinforcement of the fact that they would never abandon one another, even in the worst of times.

"Oh, Rocky!" Marshall sobbed joyfully, delivering a bone-crushing bear hug.

"Uuuurrrrrrrgggghhhh... Marshall... please... Can't... breathe... My... spine..." Rocky choked. Chase giggled as Marshall let up.

"Er... sorry..." Marshall said, sheepishly.

Rocky laughed, licking his friend's face. "That last part, by the way? I KNOW that that's true. We would always rescue you, like you would rescue us." he said.

Marshall beamed. "And I don't doubt it." he replied happily.

The two looked over at Chase, still looking away.

"Well, Chase?" Rocky said. "We're waiting. Don't try to get out of this anymore. I saw your face earlier. That was not the face of a sound sleeper."

Rocky gave Chase a stern glare. Chase's eyes widened. Now there was nowhere for him to go.

"Well, OK... I guess I can tell you..." he said.

"Chase, come on. We told you our nightmares, you can tell us yours. We're here for you too, you know. You don't have to act cool all the time." Marshall said with an unusual firmness to his voice.

"I... I guess..." Chase whispered.

"My dream wasn't as bad as a week ago... Ryder still suffered awful injuries in action... but I remember being in the hospital... he was unconscious... but they said he could pull through." Chase explained, his voice wavering. The others listened intently. "The dream was mostly just us at his bedside. We were talking to him, praying that he got better... but we were all scared that he could slip away at any time." His voice had begun to crack.

Marshall placed a paw on the german shepherd's cheek.

"And... did you think he'd make it...?" he asked.

Chase looked down. "I... don't know." he whispered, sadly. "I still haven't stopped thinking about what we'd do with no Ryder... where we'd all go... all I've been thinking about is the 'what if's." Chase couldn't hide a sniffle.

"I know... I shouldn't be wasting time on that... but... b-but..."

That did it. The walls that Chase had built around himself were getting weaker by the minute, and now they'd crumbled to dust. He dropped to the floor mid-sentence, burying his face in his paws and crying quietly. Marshall and Rocky shared a sad look.

"Chase... it's OK... come here..." Marshall whispered.

As Chase looked up, his face wet with tears, he noticed that Rocky and Marshall had moved back in the bed, leaving just enough room for him. Chase's sobs only got louder as he slowly got up and squeezed in with them, and they both held him close. Chase hated the idea of crying in front of his fellow pups, but with the way he was holding his emotions in, it was only a matter of time before the mask fell away entirely.

"Chase... I know these things take time... but if you focus only on what might be, life will pass you by..." Rocky whispered.

"I... I know that! I'm t-trying!" Chase sobbed.

Marshall couldn't help but shed tears for him as well. Chase was their second-in-command. Only Ryder outranked him. He was always the coolheaded big brother leader figure. So to see him cry like this? To see him so vulnerable? It hurt more than any burn.

"Chase?" Marshall piped up tearfully. "I know how hard this is for you. I know that you're scared. Trust me, I am too. But we can... no, we WILL get through this."

"WHEN, though?!" Chase snapped, looking straight at Marshall with a tearful look of utter despair. "I'm sick and tired of being so scared! I d-don't want to think... about this d-d-dumb dream any more...! Y-you think I L-L-LIKE thinking about l-l-losing my friends...?!"

Now Rocky was shedding tears for Chase. "This is what happens when you bottle up your emotions..." Rocky thought.

Frightened, but undeterred, Marshall squeezed tighter. "Shhhh... Chase, just get it all out..."

Chase didn't say anything after that, but simply lay there and let out an ugly series of sobs, clutching on to his friends for dear life. Marshall and Rocky eventually managed to calm down a little as Chase let off steam. Steam that, they imagined, had been left to boil for far too long.

After a few minutes, Chase lay between Marshall and Rocky gasping and whimpering. The tough second-in-command of the Paw Patrol had been reduced to what Marshall had been the night before. A terrified little kid in desperate need of a hug.

"Feel better, Chase?" Marshall whispered.

"Yeah... yeah, I-I think I'm alright..." Chase replied weakly.

Marshall paused before speaking. Would what he was about to say set Chase off again?

"Go on. You got this." Rocky mouthed, rubbing Chase's back.

"Chase... getting over these things isn't easy. Trust me, we know. They take time and talk. If you bottle it up, it won't go away."

No reply. But no more crying either, so that was a good sign.

"I'm gonna tell you what you both told me. We're here for you. And as Ryder said, we're a family. We can help you. We're more than willing to help you. But you've got to talk more. We can't find out what the problem is if it stays locked up in here."

He gently ruffled Chase's head, who snickered in response as he playfully pushed Marshall's paw away.

"Thanks Marshall... I needed that..." Chase whispered.

Marshall breathed a sigh of relief. "Now we're square, right?"

Chase and Marshall exchanged tired smiles in response. After a brief pause, Chase noticed the odd silence from his other side.

"You doing OK, Rocky?"

No reply. Chase and Marshall looked over to see the mixed breed completely passed out at the side of the bed.

"Heh heh, sleeping..." Chase quietly giggled. "This is tiring work..." he whispered.

"Heh. Yeah. But I think he's got the right idea, huh?" Marshall replied, snuggling down next to Chase.

A heavy drowsiness started to overtake Chase as well. "Yeah... he sure... does..." Chase mumbled, laying his head down and finally going back to sleep alongside the other two.

Unusual sleeping arrangement aside, the three managed to sleep soundly, the nightmares banished by the impromptu heart-to-heart-to-heart.


	14. Cast Aside the Mask

The morning had arrived. The skies were grey and overcast that day, so the lack of light made waking up difficult. Or more so than usual, considering the pup's heart-to-heart-to-heart in the middle of the night had taken up a lot of their energy. Rocky groggily dragged himself back into consciousness and was about to get up, only to realise that Chase was still asleep next to him. Not daring to disturb him, Rocky just stayed where he was.

Or rather, he did until he noticed something odd. No Marshall. The last he saw of him before falling asleep was him trying to comfort the crying Chase. His memory was a little hazy, but it worked well enough. But now, almost as if it was a dream in itself, Marshall had vanished altogether. Rocky's heart dropped again, waking him almost immediately.

"Oh, no. Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no..." Rocky mumbled. This, however, was swiftly cut off by Ryder's voice.

"Oh, good morning, Rocky! How are you?". Rocky looked over to see his owner sitting on a beanbag playing a game.

"Oh, Ryder, sir! Marshall's gone! He was here last night, but he's just disappeared!" Rocky said, panicking.

"Calm down, Rocky. Marshall's not gone. I know where he is. He just has some errands to run today." Ryder quickly replied.

It didn't take long for Rocky to calm back down from Ryder's words, emitting a hefty sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank goodness for that... stupid dream..." Rocky mumbled.

"Uh-oh. Bad dreams again?" Ryder asked with a note of concern.

"Yeah... but it's funny, all the dreams we had last night were more hopeful than before. I mean they were still awful, but..."

Ryder grew intrigued. "Hopeful? What do you mean?" By this point, he'd put his Pup Pad down and approached the bed. "Want to talk about it?"

Rocky stood up and stretched. "It'll take a little while, Ryder. You sure you wanna hear it?"

Ryder didn't reply. Instead, he gently picked Rocky up and walked over to his beanbag with him in his arms. By this point, Chase had heard just about everything from when Rocky started to panic. He'd simply pretended to be asleep so as not to be dragged into matters too soon. He wanted to speak to Ryder himself, but grew interested in what Rocky had to say.

Rocky had explained the events of the night before. The nightmares. The long talk. Chase's breakdown.

"It sounds like I was right to put you pups together for the night." Ryder said, stroking Rocky's back the whole while.

"Yeah, totally." Rocky replied. "I'm glad that Marshall calmed down quickly. But Chase just seemed sick about the whole thing. We've... only seen him like that once before."

Ryder looked worried. He'd known for a long time that Chase was putting on a brave face around everyone but him, and noted how this was actually worrying them even more than if he'd just admitted it.

"We told him that he can't just bottle up how he feels." Rocky went on. "I'm hoping that we can keep helping him today. Of course, I was hoping that Marshall could've been here, too, but, uh..." Rocky gave a small smile. "...I think he's done his part."

Ryder smiled proudly. "Even scared out of his gourd, he's always thinking of others first..."

Rocky grinned more widely in response. "Hey. That's... Marshall... for... y..."

The words died in his throat as he turned around and saw that Chase had left the bed and was now sitting right in front of them, looking up at them with oneof the saddest faces imaginable from him. From behind Rocky, Ryder's face fell.

"Oh, Chase... are you... OK?" Rocky asked nervously.

A long pause ensued as Chase looked at the floor. "Rocky? Would you... mind letting me talk to Ryder alone?" he asked with his voice wavering.

"Wait, did he hear all of that?" Rocky thought. "Oh. Yeah, of course. Take all the time you need." Rocky replied, hopping off of Ryder's stomach. "I'll get out of your fur." he continued before heading for the door. The other pups would want to know how the night went, anyway.

A couple of hours had passed. Rocky had relayed the information of last night to a worried trio of Skye, Rubble and Zuma. But when he told them that Chase looked like he was willing to open up, the relief in the atmosphere was palpable. They also expressed confusion at Marshall running errands. What could he have to do throughout the day? They hoped that he was OK. Especially owing to Ryder not saying anything about it. He wasn't usually this cagey with them. The pups were passing the time with a game of pupball, until Ryder called Rocky in.

"Uh-oh. Am I in trouble?" he thought, as he followed Ryder inside.

"Rocky..." Ryder began. "Chase wants to talk to you."

Rocky noticed that they were heading for Ryder's room. "Is... he-"

"Don't worry, he's fine. We talked things over together and he sounds much better. He said he'll come right back if he's feeling bad again."

Rocky heaved a sigh of relief. It sounded like their words were having an effect.

"What does he want to talk about?" Rocky asked, as they moved towards Ryder's door.

"I'm not sure, but he wants to talk to you alone." Ryder replied, opening the door.

"Hey, Rocky." Chase said, sitting atop Ryder's bed. "You doing OK?".

He looked suprisingly calm, all things considered, even though he had a noticable frown on his face.

"Uh... y-yeah..." Rocky replied.

Though he wasn't expecting too much from the scene, the quietness of it all still caught him off-guard. He was at least glad that Chase didn't look too upset. Rocky slowly approached the bed and hopped onto it, sitting across from Chase.

"I'll just leave you to it." Ryder said, as he closed the door behind him, leaving Chase and Rocky alone together.

As Ryder walked away, he made sure he was out of earshot before drawing his Pup Pad and pressing Marshall's icon.

"Hi, Marshall. How's it going?" asked Ryder, as the dalmatian appeared before him on the screen.

"Oh, Ryder!" Marshall replied, a little surprised. "I've got everything I need, I just need to hide it now. What are the others doing?".

"Right now, they're playing pupball. If you come back now, they'll probably spot you hiding it. Hang around a little and I'll contact you again when it's clear."

"I think Apollo is on in... oh... half an hour or so. That oughta distract 'em so I can slip into the nearby cave and hide everything. Too bad I'll miss it..."

"It's OK, we can record it for you. We're keeping to schedule nicely, here. Keep it up. Ryder out."

Back in Ryder's room, there were a few seconds of unbroken silence.

"I... I've been selfish. REALLY selfish." Chase said, with a look of guilt on his face. "All this time I didn't see how worried you all were about me. All I was thinking was about how you all might freak out if you saw that I was still scared. I thought about the team, but not any of you."

"Chase, really, don't worry about it-" Rocky said quietly.

"No, you don't get it." Chase interrupted. "All this time I've been saying that we'd be here for Marshall, you, and everyone, but I never took my own advice. I kept trying to look brave, but all I did was make myself feel worse and scare you all."

"Chase..."

"I mostly wanted to tell you... that I'm done keeping a lid on it. That talk I had with Ryder? It wasn't just about the bad dreams I've had. It was about how to deal with them. There are times to be brave and there are times to just... well..."

"...cry?" Rocky asked with a small smile.

"Heh heh, yeah." Chase giggled slightly before returning to normal. "So part of the reason I wanted to talk to you... was to say 'I'm sorry'. Sorry for avoiding you, sorry for the trouble I've caused and sorry for being a pain in the butt."

A long pause ensued as Rocky took in what Chase just said. After so long of trying to look brave and deflecting people's doubts had about how he was feeling, here he was pouring his heart out to him. Deep down, Rocky had really wanted to hear this. He just wished it hadn't taken a whole week post-nightmare to do so. If he was scared, he didn't have to hide it. He never had to. Now, it seems he'd finally taken the message on board. In relief, Rocky smiled widely.

"You have no idea how bad I've wanted to hear you say that." Rocky whispered.

"I think I do, actually. Which is part of why I asked to talk to you alone." Chase replied.

"'Part'? What's the rest of it?"

"So I can do this."

Chase pulled in close and hugged Rocky tighter than ever. "Thanks for being there for me, Rocky. And thanks for being so patient with me." Rocky froze up. As happy as he was that Chase had finally opened up to him, he wasn't quite expecting this. Either way, Rocky beamed as he returned Chase's hug, and the two quietly embraced for the next couple of minutes.

The evening had arrived. The rest of the day had been mostly uneventful, aside from Chase getting dogpiled in joy and tickled senseless by the other pups and Marshall having a pair of furry missiles knocking him off his feet in the form of Rocky and Chase tackle-hugging him on his return. They'd spent the rest of the day uneventfully, up until 8PM. Usually, the pups would have their dinner in around half an hour. But tonight, things were going to be different. Marshall made sure to keep his distance from the Lookout, as he lay in his house, until his Pup Tag and those of everyone else went off.

"Paw Patrol: To the Lookout!" came Ryder's voice.

"Ryder needs us!" the pups replied.

Marshall had joined in, but his thoughts didn't match his words.

"Go time..." Marshall thought with a smirk.

* * *

 _ **And that's the penultimate chapter. Yep. The next chapter in this fic will be the last. I'm not going to start reflecting on how this went just yet, though. I'm saving that for the afterword. A shorter chapter this time, but don't worry, we'll be going from the shortest to the longest tomorrow.  
**_

 _ **I'd also like to address something. Entity of Spite recently asked me (as you may be able to tell from reading their review) if I'd based the dreams of the pups off of other fics on this site. I may as well come right out and say it: the answer is yes.**_

 _ **If this has caused any kind of offence (or if this is simply a scummy thing to do), then I can only offer my apologies. I'll be going further into it in the afterword, which I'll be giving its own chapter since I actually have quite a bit to say. Stay tuned, and I'll be back tomorrow. Goodnight.**_


	15. Unbreakable Bonds

The pups excitedly bounded towards the elevator, with a particular spring in the step of Rocky and Chase, their concerns mostly behind them. As they all turned around and braced for impact, they noticed something odd.

"Hey... where's Marshall?" asked Rubble.

"I dunno, he was around just a second ago!" Skye replied, growing concerned.

As if to answer their question, a heavy groan came from the front door.

"I'm... over... here... uurrrrrggghhh..." came Marshall's voice from the door as he slowly shuffled towards the elevator, hunched over in pain.

"Oh, no, Mawshall... what's up?" Zuma asked, looking at the heavily-breathing dalmatian.

"My... tummy is... killing... me..." Marshall replied. "I think I ate some... bad meat..."

"Does this mean you can't come with us?" Rocky asked.

Marshall stood up, defiant. "No way! I'm gonna come with you no matter what! Ready for a ruff- aargh... ruff... rescuuuuuuuuuggghhh..."

Marshall collapsed onto the floor, curled into a ball.

"Hey! Hey! Easy, Marshall! Don't strain yourself!" Chase barked, running over to him.

The doors closed and the elevator rose. The pups changed into their gear, and hopped out as the elevator reached the top, where Ryder was waiting.

"Paw Patrol ready for action, Ryder, sir!" Chase declared. "...er, well, mostly..." he continued, looking over his shoulder as his ears drooped.

Marshall staggered out of the elevator groaning.

"Oh, no... Marshall, what's wrong? Do you feel sick?" Ryder dashed over and placed a hand on Marshall's head.

"Ugh... my... tummy... ate... something... bad..."

"Oh, poor pup..." Ryder replied sympathetically. "Looks like you're still in no condition to handle an emergency, yet."

Marshall whined. "But I... I don't wanna miss out again!"

"Sorry, Marshall, but I'm not having you get worse out there. Head down to the sick room and get some rest, OK? I'll be in touch." Ryder instructed.

Defeated, Marshall agreed. "Ugh... yes... Ryder, sir..." He dragged himself to his feet and wobbled back to the elevator.

As the doors closed and Marshall disappeared out of sight, he broke into a wide grin and stood at his full height.

"They bought it! They actually bought it!" he thought in glee.

Marshall protested last night that he was a terrible liar, but Ryder found a way around it. "Don't think of it as lying. Think of it as acting!" he remembered Ryder telling him. He reflected on how scary that line of thinking could be as the elevator descended.

"Is that how Humdinger and Sweetie think?" Marshall wondered to himself.

"I hope he's OK..." said Skye, worriedly.

"He'll be fine, Skye." Rubble said. "It's a tummy ache from some bad food. Easily moved past."

"Heh, take it from the expert..." Chase joked. Everyone laughed, with the exception of Rocky.

"I dunno if we should be laughing, guys... Aren't we leaving Marshall alone?" he asked.

Chase quickly nuzzled him in response. "C'mon, Rocky. We've left each other alone at the Lookout before and nothing's happened. Besides, if something did happen to Marshall, we'd turn Adventure Bay upside-down looking for him, right?"

Rocky's fears subsided with Chase's words. He remembered when they left Marshall alone and he saved a bunch of Katie's kittens.

"Hey, you know, you're right!" Rocky smiled.

"See? You wowwy too much, dude!" Zuma said.

With everyone ready to hear him, Ryder began the mission briefing.

"Pups. I'll give it to you straight. This one isn't really an emergency, but it's something we're all invited to. Everest actually invited us all to dinner at the Mountain, and she was really hoping that everyone could come."

The pups perked up. "Really?! Yay!" Skye proclaimed, flipping in happiness. "What's the occasion?"

"There isn't one, really. Jake just said they felt like having some company." Ryder replied.

"Nice!" Rubble exclaimed with a big smile, only to quickly let out a whine. "...Marshall would've loved that..."

The other pups followed suit, remembering how close Marshall was to Everest.

"Sorry, pups, but the invitation only came through recently. I know you all would've loved for him to come with, but we can make an arrangement for Marshall when he's feeling better." Ryder continued.

Scattered noises of disappointed agreement came from the pups. This news was cold comfort, given that Marshall would still be missing from the group.

"Cheer up, pups." Ryder continued. "Everest wouldn't want you to be sad when you see her, would she? The two of them can make up lost time later."

A brief pause later, the pups looked up.

"OK, Wyder, sir... we'll twy." Zuma said, slowly smiling.

"Good pups. We all ready?" Ryder asked. The pups answered with enthusiastic barking.

"Alright! Paw Patrol is on a roll!" Ryder declared, running for the pole.

The rest of the pups followed as they went down the slide to their vehicles, taking off for Jake's Mountain. From the sick room, Marshall watched on, laying on a cushion and looking thoroughly miserable as they all took off up the road, just in case they could still see him. Once they all disappeared over the horizon, he stood up again.

"Showtime..."

An hour later. The pups were playing around in the snow with Everest. She was unusually understanding of Marshall's absence. She didn't sound very disappointed at all. Even though Chase pointed this out, she ended up quoting the exact same things that Ryder had told them, making Chase secretly even more suspicious that something might be wrong. All the same, they enjoyed the hearty meals put before them by Jake, lay in front of the cabin's fire and generally made merry, but deep down, they couldn't stop thinking about how Marshall would've loved to be with them.

A little while later, Ryder's Pup Pad went off again. Realising what was about to happen, Ryder retreated back into the cabin before answering it.

"Ready, Marshall?" he asked. Marshall was grinning from ear-to-ear.

"Oh. Yeah." he replied.

Ryder hung up the call. The next phase was about to begin.

"Hey, Rocky! Chase! I need to talk to you!" Ryder called out to the two pups, one of which was covered in snow from being built into a snow-pup and the other of which popped out of the ground from digging around. They quickly ran to their owner.

"Ryder, sir, is something wrong?" Chase asked.

"I hate to say it, but yes. Marshall just called and reported that the power is down at the Lookout. He's in complete darkness, and he needs some of you to go back and help him." Ryder said.

"Oh, this isn't a good night for him... Who do we need? Rubble? Me?" Rocky asked.

"Actually, pups, he specifically asked for the two of you." Ryder replied.

"Huh?!" Chase said. "Ryder, sir, I hate to question you, but what could I do? I mean I can use my flashlight, but couldn't Rocky do that? And surely we need to check the underground cables, too, so why not bring Rubble?"

"Sorry, but Marshall was very clear. He only wanted you to go and check out the situation at the Lookout." Ryder said.

Chase and Rocky shared a quizzical glance. This whole thing reeked of something wrong. Marshall missing for half the day? Suddenly getting a tummy ache before dinner? Them not even getting Katie involved? Everest inviting them over and taking Marshall's absence reasonably well?

"Are you... sure there's no danger around...?" Rocky asked shakily.

"Rocky, if I thought there was danger, then I'd be coming with you." Ryder replied. "Now, you better hurry over. I don't think Marshall likes sitting in the dark."

With a look of massive suspicion shared between them, Chase and Rocky agreed, and went back to their vehicles to drive back to the Lookout.

As they approached the Lookout, the tower was indeed in complete darkness. Usually, it'd be shining bright for all to see. But now, it was practically invisible against the night sky.

"Hey, Chase. Do you really think that everything's OK?" Rocky's voice came over Chase's Pup Tag. "Why would Ryder send just us to a power cut?

"I don't know, Rocky. But I can't help but wonder if nothing is wrong."

"Do you think Ryder is setting us up for something?"

"It wouldn't be the first time. Remember April Fool's Day?" Chase asked, a smile spreading across his face.

Rocky shuddered. "Do NOT remind me! I had to take SO many baths to get all that mustard out of my fur!"

Chase couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Stop laughing! It's not funny!" Rocky yelled, pouting.

"Ha ha ha! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!" Chase laughed, before regaining his composure. "Anyway, I'm not sure about this. Stay alert."

"Got it." Rocky replied, as they pulled up to the Lookout.

"Well, I guess the first thing we need to do is get this door open. Rocky, you got anything that could help?" Chase asked.

"Sure thing! First thing we'll need is a fulcrum. Arf, arf! Crowbar!" Rocky replied.

With his words, a crowbar extended from his Pup Pack. But as the crowbar approached the door, it slid open as if nothing was wrong.

"What the-?! The door!" Chase exclaimed.

"But I didn't even touch it!" Rocky replied. Suspicion welled up in the pups' stomachs.

"Something's wrong here. Stay close to me." Chase said, lowering his stance. Rocky complied, moving in close and moving slowly.

As they blundered through the inky blackness of the Lookout, Chase fumbled for the light switch for the main light. Only for nothing to happen.

"What the heck?! Ruff! Flashlight!" Chase said.

As the beam of his flashlight cut through the inky blackness, something even stranger caught the pair's eyes. Pillows. From wall to wall. Pillows. Covering the floor.

"Whaaaaaaaa...?" Rocky said as he picked up one of the pillows in his mouth.

Nothing felt terribly off about it. It was just a regular old pillow, with at least fifty like it littering the floor.

"I mean, I know I like to say 'Don't lose it, re-use it', but this is ridiculous." Rocky mused.

"This has GOT to be a setup for something." Chase replied. "Anyway, let's focus on finding Marshall first." Chase said.

"Right." Rocky replied. "Marshall?! Hello?! You there?!" The worry in Rocky's voice was evident. They slowly moved forward through the white swamp of pillows, nearly tripping over themselves a few times, only for a loud snapping noise to ring out through the room. Then, they froze as they were buried under a massive net.

"AGH! WHA-?!"

"OOF! WHAT THE-?!" Panic set in quickly among the pups. They frantically thrashed around under the net.

"Chase! What's going on?!"

"I don't know! It's some kind of trap!" The yells of confusion and panic continued for a few minutes.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAA!"

A maniacal, familiar-sounding laugh rang out through the room, stopping the pups' struggling for a while.

"AS MOTHS TO A FLAME, YET MORE INTRUDERS FIND THEMSELVES IN MINE TRAP!" the voice bellowed.

"Wait... that voice!" Rocky said. "Marshall?!"

The standing light in front of them turned on, illuminating a section of the pillow-covered room. And at the switch was Marshall, grinning like, ironically enough, the Cheshire Cat, wearing an utterly-ridiculous villain costume he'd borrowed from Alex's costume chest.

Wearing a black top hat with red banding, a black cloak with red lining and completing the costume with an elaborate red, feathered, sparkling masquerade mask, Chase couldn't help but snicker at how silly his friend looked.

"Marshall, what is going on here?! Why are you dressed like Humdinger at the school dance?!" Chase yelled, partly-angry, yet fighting back snickering.

"Such... INSOLENCE!" Marshall replied. "Learn to respect thine betters, blue PEASANT!" Marshall slung a pillow into Chase's helpless face.

"Marshall... what in the world's gotten into you?!" Rocky replied with a sense of dread. Marshall somehow turning evil hit too close to home for him, and yet neither Humdinger, Sweetie or even Sid and Arrby acted quite this ridiculous.

"SILENCE, GREEN INTERLOPER!" he yelled back. "Thou dost both intrude in mine swamp of pillows! State yon business or face extermination!"

The smile grew on Chase's face grew more and more to the point where he looked positively delirious. This was the setup! Marshall had set up a giant pillow fight! And he wanted to play the bad guy. This was utterly ridiculous and confusing, but at the same time, so like him. Chase's excitement grew as the inevitable war of pillows drew nearer.

"We seek but one thing, oh Lord of Pillows..." Chase said.

"Ch-chase?" Rocky asked, worriedly.

"WE SEEK FOR YOUR HEAD TO ROLL, TYRANT! YOU SHALL MEET YOUR END AT OUR PAWS!" Chase yelled, gleefully playing along.

"HA HA HA HA HA! It seems thine blue PEASANT has forgotten his place!" Marshall laughed loudly. "He seeks to hasten his end in mine swamp! How beautiful! Thou hast but one final chance, intruders! Bow to me, OR PERISH!"

"NEVER!" Chase yelled back.

"Then OFF WITH YON HEADS!" Marshall yelled, leaping backwards and hurling a few pillows at the two trapped pups.

"Chase! What are you doing?!" Rocky asked, the world seeming to have gone mad around him.

"What does it look like?!" Chase replied as the pillows battered the pair of them. "I'm fighting the forces of evil!"

Through more struggling, Chase finally managed to wriggle out of their prison, with Rocky quickly following suit. While Chase immediately snatched up a pillow in his mouth and charged at the costumed dalmatian, Rocky ran in the opposite direction, looking for what little cover he could in the following insanity.

Rocky found himself under a table pushed to the side of the room, cowering as he saw Chase and Marshall attack each other with pillows. He watched as they flung them like missiles and slammed them into each other, with the occasional 'leap at your opponent using the pillow as a battering ram' trick being pulled. As the fight raged, the two continued to yell at each other as though it were the ultimate clash between good and evil being fought with pillows, but between it, the two were laughing. They were both smiling the entire way through, even as one knocked the other loopy.

"You call that an attack, Marshall?! A two-month old hits harder than that!"

"How do you know? You really need to branch out more when it comes to pillow fights!"

Rocky chomped down on one of his arms. As the pain shot up his body, he concluded that somehow, he wasn't dreaming, and this almighty pillow war was really happening. It felt like something from a low-budget action movie. He prayed that they didn't expect him to join in. He was still trying to make sense of all of this. And why was Chase playing along?! Couldn't he see how crazy the whole situation was? Everything had gone off the- OOF!

A pillow came flying into his face. As it fell to the ground and Rocky recovered from being clobbered, he noticed a shocked german shepherd in front of him, who then proceeded to give a smile that could somehow be read as a plea not to be eaten. Marshall stood to the side and stared at him intently. Great... now even Chase was turning on him... Slowly, Rocky started to growl, and pick himself up from under the table. His eyebrows shifted into an angry glare. If you can't beat them, join them, as they say.

"Rrrgh... rrrrrrrrgh... rrrrRAAAGGGHHH! Now you've done it, Chase! You won't like Rocky when he's angry!" Rocky threatened before snatching up the pillow in his mouth and hurling it at Chase.

The pillow hit him hard enough to knock him over and send him sliding across the pillow-covered floor. Rocky had just turned this pillow duel into a free-for-all.

From then on, the fight somehow got even more chaotic. Pillows flew across the room at breakneck speeds. The pups got flung everywhere by one another's blows. And they flung themselves everywhere, pillows flying. Nobody was really keeping track of how many blows they landed on one another, and two of them were not expecting to spend their night this way, but none of them could deny having an utter blast.

"Throw a pillow at ME, will ya?!"

"Hey, I wasn't aiming at you!"

"He's lying to you, pal!"

The taunts flew around the room along with the pillows. Marshall sent Rocky skidding with a thrown pillow. Chase knocked Marshall across the room with a well-placed pillow strike. Rocky rammed into Chase, pillow-first. The small amount of light from the standing lamp and Marshall occasionally tripping over himself did nothing to deter the three as they duked it out in the darkness. The night was punctuated by grunts, yelling, laughter and the occasional crash.

The pups lost track of time as they fought. Was it a few minutes? An hour? No-one really knew and no-one cared as they all lay on a pile of pillows together, gasping for breath and thoroughly exhausted, occasionally laughing as they searched for the ability to speak again. Somehow, nothing got broken in the pillow fight. Not even the standing lamp that still illuminated a portion of the room. After some time, the first to speak up was Chase.

"Marshall... you've got... some explaining to do..." he panted.

Marshall, who had ditched his silly costume mid-fight, lay in the middle of the two. "What? Didn't you... have fun?"

"No, no... more fun than I've... had in weeks... but... why do all this? And for... just us?"

"I said... I wanted to pay you back didn't I? And... as you might've guessed... Ryder's in on this too..."

"Figured he would be... But didn't... we say you didn't... have to?"

"That's right... I didn't... did I? Yeah, the whole thing was pretty expensive... and I owe Mr. Porter a big favour... for helping me get all these... but you know... I had the time of my life today... totally worth it..."

"But isn't this... going a little far? You could've just got us all dinner or something..." Rocky piped up, finally.

"Well, that's just it..." Marshall gasped. I mean, all of the Paw Patrol... are headed to the amusement park tomorrow... as a thank you... Rubble really wants to go there, after all... but this was just for you... heh, makes me wonder... what everyone will think... when Ryder brings them home..."

"Wha? But why?" Rocky asked.

"Well... when everyone came and tried to cheer me up... reminded me of all the good times we had... it felt good. Made me feel... way better, actually... So I figured if I made some more happy memories with you guys... it'd help all of us, not just me... help us move away from these dumb nightmares."

A long period of silence ensued. THAT was Marshall's plan? He went that far for all of them? He went so far as to owe Mr. Porter one just so he could help them feel better? So they could have fun together to fight the nightmares?

"Marshall..." said Rocky, touched to the point of tearing up.

"Marshall, I... I don't even know what to say..." Chase added.

"How about... Marshall's the best and the rest are a mess?" Marshall cheekily replied.

"HEY!" Chase yelled with a grin, playfully thumping Marshall in the side. The three all burst out laughing again for about half a minute.

"Marshall... you're far too kind... We don't deserve a friend like you..." Chase said, embracing his friend.

"I'd say 'thank you'... but that won't be enough by a long shot..." Rocky added, doing the same.

Now Marshall felt like crying with joy again. The plan was a total success. And while he had a say in the matter, those dreams would remain a thing of the past.

"G-Guys?" Marshall said, on the verge of tears.

"If we have those dreams again... can we... do something like this again?"

"Like you have to ask!" Chase replied, licking Marshall's face mid-hug. "We can stand up to these stupid dreams together!"

Rocky snuggled in closer to his friend. "What Chase said... Any more nightmares... we can help each other... fight them..."

Rocky's eyelids started to feel incredibly heavy. After all that happened tonight, he was more relaxed than ever and ready for a good night's sleep. And the feeling was mutual for Chase and Marshall.

"We're... there for you, Marshall... Just like... you were here for us, tonight... Promise... you won't ever leave us?" Chase added.

Marshall wept and smiled tearfully, struggling to speak through his own tiredness. "Not ever... I promise..." He licked Chase's face. "I love you both..." He turned and did the same to Rocky.

"Hey, now... don't... start giving people... the wrong... idea..." Chase sleepily joked as he lay his head down. "I... love you both, too..." he said, snuggling close.

"Marshall... Chase... I love you, too..." Rocky echoed in a sleepy trance, doing the same.

Then there was silence, as they all fell into the deepest, soundest sleep they'd had for a long time.

And for the first time in a week, there wasn't a single nightmare to be had.

* * *

 _ **And so that's it. The end. Fin. Das ende. I have to say, I'm happy to have finished this. There's still the afterword to come, which is really more an excuse for me to reflect on the first fanfic that I wrote. I'll be putting it in another chapter (though I will be moving this fic to "complete" in the meantime) and uploading it according to the same schedule as ever. It may not be a continuation to the story, but I'd still appreciate it if you at least had a look at it.  
**_

 _ **Before I go, I'd like to quickly address the reception to this fic. I've resisted talking about this until I actually finished the thing. But now that I have, I can say this with confidence.**_

 _ **THANK. YOU. ALL. SO. MUCH.**_

 _ **I must admit, I didn't think I'd be getting the kind words that people have sent my way the past couple of weeks in reviews and PMs (please don't think the reviews are going unread, because I've been reading every one). People have said that they really enjoyed this, and that really does mean a lot. I'll be giving particular shoutouts in the afterword (where I'll be discussing my future plans, also), but until then: thank you all again for the support. I hope you enjoyed this final chapter (even if the dialogue at the end was a little sappy), and for the last time: I'll be back tomorrow. Goodnight.**_


	16. Afterword

_**Before I get started, I'd like to issue a quick apology. I know I said I'd stick to my schedule when it came to uploading the afterword, but this time, real life really did get in the way. Good thing I got all the chapters uploaded before then, huh? Anyway, let me get on with it.**_

* * *

 _ **First of all, the reception to this fic. Again, I can't stress enough what the kind words and support I've gotten mean to me. In particular, I have to single out the following people for kudos.**_

 _ **Wolf-Pause**_ _ **: For taking the time out of their day to PM me their critiques of the story. I greatly appreciate that you let me know where I could improve here (for those curious, it was mostly about vagaries in the text, such as who is speaking at any given time, and the overuse of ellipses).**_

 _ **Entity of Spite and PupPupGo**_ _ **: For all the encouragement. It really warmed my heart when I saw your thoughts on the story.**_

 _ **SharpDragonKlaw**_ _ **: For being the very first review and being with this fic since the beginning!**_

 _ **Once again, thank you all.**_

* * *

 _ **Onto my next point. I mentioned back in Chapter 14 that the nightmares I gave the pups were based on other fics that I read here. Entity of Spite, thank you again for being OK with this. Honestly, I was more afraid of the possible backlash that might result from me being found out (either from me writing other people's fics as horrific nightmares, or if me taking ideas like that was unoriginal), but people mostly seem OK with it. Doing this wasn't saying anything about the quality of the fics in question, but it was more like "how might the pups react if they thought about being put through those kinds of situations?"**_

* * *

 _ **Speaking of ideas, that brings me to my next point: my future plans. I have some other fics in mind, but not very many. Honestly, I think I'd much prefer to write a handful of fics and do the best I can with them than write a bunch of different ones and have them be sloppily-executed. Here's what I have:**_

 _ **The pups filling Rubble in and taking care of him after a rescue gone bad leaves him bedridden and destroys his memory of the past 24 hours.**_

 _ **A prequel to Primary Fears consisting of a truncated telling of the morning after Rocky and Chase's nightmares.**_

 _ **A selection of friendshipping one-shots involving Marshall and Chase (Not all love has to be romantic when it comes to shipping. I like to think that this fic serves as proof positive of that!)**_

 _ **Not much, is it? But then again, see answer A. I don't intend to do any drama and/or tragedy fics on here. That category is largely covered in this fandom. And OC's and romance are out of the question. I wouldn't be able to do them properly, I don't think. I do have thoughts of an OC, but see answer B.**_

 _ **I intend to write a few fics and then vanish again. If I get any more ideas, maybe I'll return. I don't know. I can safely say that all of those ideas I mentioned are definites in some way, shape or form.**_

 _ **Oh yes, and none of them will be as long as Primary Fears. I'm hoping to keep them to half-as-long at most (PupPupGo, incidentally, said that it was a good thing I ended the fic where I did. I have to agree, since this fic's already super-long without a sequence of the pups visiting the amusement park I mentioned).**_

* * *

 _ **And that brings me to my last point: my schedule. Call it self-aggrandising, but I'm very happy with how that worked out for me. It lead to… complications when I updated too soon (if I was faster than 24 hours, the update wouldn't go out), but that aside, I'm very pleased that I didn't end up leaving another proverbial grave on this site (by that I mean stopping updating a fic and leaving it to wither and die). This is why I wrote all the chapters in advance. That way, I could guarantee myself that I could get the fic out there and completed, since they were all basically lined up and ready to go.  
**_

* * *

 _ **(rant) As a side note, when it comes to watching the show, fergawdsakes, DON'T. WATCH. THE UK. DUB. I say this as a Briton myself, but that dub of the show is just… cringey. There's not really another word for it. I will say that mercifully, Tracker's voice remains unchanged (knowing this dub, they'd probably make him Irish or something...), and a couple of the voices are… OK. Those are my only compliments, though. Chase inexplicably sounds like an adult (that's one deeply-voiced 7-year old…) and Ryder is the opposite in sounding too young (he's meant to be about 10, but his UK voice makes him sound about 7). But the worst out of all of them is Rubble. Three words: British Patrick Star. Like, why?! It makes him sound dim (he's young, not dumb)! Oh, and also, they made Everest Scottish.**_

 _ **...why…? (endrant)**_

* * *

 _ **And that's all I have to say. Once again, thank you for all the support you've all given me, and I'll see you when the next fic is written. But until then:**_

 _ **PyreFly out.**_


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